The New Life for a Hiccup (Rewrite)
by ChaosX97
Summary: Originally written by NightShade248. Hiccup has no place in Berk, unable to kill the dragons that he has come to love through his best friend Toothless, so he decides to leave. Finding himself in a new place with new faces, Hiccup discovers more about himself than he ever thought possible. Watch as a boy finds his own way to become a man. Same story but with new content.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, everybody, ChaosX97 here and I am pretty excited to post my first Httyd fanfiction here. Well, first and foremost let me point out that this isn't fully MY story. Those who remember the title may find this obvious, although you never really know since most different fanfics have similar titles. This story is technically a rewrite and was originally uploaded by 'NightShade248,' or 'DevilHalfa3333' if you remember them by that name; they wrote, deleted, and rewrote the story, and currently is in the process of writing a reworked version along with a sequel. I have their permission to upload this, just so you know, so no one should accuse me of stealing. This ISN'T my idea, got it?**

**That being said, I have a lot of ideas for this story to flesh it out a bit. I really like the original idea, and I have a lot of my own thoughts for how it could go, so for fans of the original, be prepared for a lot of new stuff. I promise you won't be disappointed.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. And again, all OC's and the original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>Hiccup still remembered the cheers of the Vikings as he trekked through the familiar path in the forest, a large bag slung over his shoulder, the joyous praises of his talents echoing through his ears as his mind jumped back to the arena match with the Gronkle. Because of them, he had bumped up to the top of the class faster than anyone could even process. Of course, with Vikings, whose wits were about as slow as snails, that wasn't surprising.<p>

Of course, he owed his success to the tiny little fact that he had defied 300 years of Viking tradition. In those three long centuries, spanning farther back than anyone could remember, Viking tribes had been at war with dragons: massive fire-breathing creatures that flew through the skies and raided islands throughout the archipelago for their food, and occasionally killed to get it. The Vikings would always fight back, and the continuous dance of death between the two species led the Vikings, especially the people of Berk, to build most of their culture off of killing the evil, mindless demons.

Hiccup, however, was the sole exception: in his efforts to please his father Stoick the Vast, the chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, he had managed to capture the rarest and most dangerous dragon in the world: the unholy offspring of lightning and death, the Night Fury. However, rather than kill it, he actually befriended it, even rode it. Through studying the elusive dragon, who he named 'Toothless' due to its retractable teeth, he had learned many things about his kind that were never mentioned in the 'Book of Dragons,' the Vikings' recorded log of all dragon knowledge they had, which really only included information on what they could do and how dangerous they were, each one recommended to 'kill on sight.'

He had just completed a semifinal match of sorts, competing alongside Astrid, the shield maiden Viking prodigy who he had had a crush on since hormones had first kicked in for him. She had never really taken notice of him before, in fact she had probably preferred to pretend he wasn't there, but now that he had surpassed her – her, who had trained ruthlessly for the chance to follow in the footsteps of all the brave and mighty warriors who came before her in the battle against the dragons – her mind was consumed by him. To Astrid, her prowess and reputation as a warrior was everything to her, and so she had strived for perfection in everything she did, especially in dragon training. After all, the winner would obtain the honor of killing the Monstrous Nightmare, a breed that only the best Vikings went after.

She had charged forth, hopping over the wooden hurdles with little effort, roaring in rage and desperation for the blood of the husky rock-shaped dragon on her sharp axe as a sign of her conquest over Hiccup, to finally remind everyone that he was still Hiccup the Useless, the tiny troublesome pest that only served as dead weight for the rest of the tribe. Sadly, her victory, as it rushed ever closer, was instantly snatched away as the small boy approached the Gronkle, and in a matter of seconds it fell to the ground, tongue lolling out the side of its mouth and its hind left leg swiping the air as it laid in contentment, moaning in what appeared to the Vikings who had gathered to watch as pain.

She could only stare in disbelief as her last chance for victory, for glory in the eyes of her people, was snatched away. "NO!" She screamed as she swung her axe down and stomped her foot in frustration, the reality of her loss to Hiccup finally sinking in. "NO, SON OF A HALF-TROLL, RAT EATING, MUNGE BUCKET!" Astrid swung her axe randomly and violently as she swore; some of the parents actually had to cover the ears of their children, protecting their ears and their delicate minds from such profound language. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, however, nearly bowled over in laughter.

"Wait, wait. Okay, quiet down" called out a large mountain of a man with a fiery red beard wearing a green tunic: this was Stoick the Vast, the mighty Viking warrior who could shatter rock with his head, the chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, and Hiccup's father. He had just returned with a fleet of tattered ships from another failed search for the dragons' nest, and wasn't all that much in the mood for any more bad news regarding how badly he assumed Hiccup was failing in Training, but upon hearing the news of his son gaining celebrity status due to his success in the ring, his spirits lifted more than anyone could say. Stoick had lost any faith in his son over those painful, exasperating first 14 years of his embarrassment of a son's life; due to his weak body, his strange inventing habits, and his refusal to obey his father's orders, Stoick was convinced the boy was just going to die out one day from the sickness he always ended up contracting in the dead of winter or end up being a light snack for attacking dragons, some had callously wished sometimes he would. His people would always offer condolences for Stoick bearing such a pathetic child who more than likely would never amount to anything; sorry was all anyone could think of when they caught sight of him. But knowing that Hiccup had apparently been 'holding out on him' was nearly enough to make him sprout wings himself and fly to Valhalla and back; honestly, if he had heard it from anyone else, he would have thought them mad.

"Soo... Later!" Hiccup quickly spouted in an attempt to escape the ring as quickly as possible.

"Ah, ah, not so fast," said Gobber, using his hook hand to pick Hiccup up by the collar of his tunic and placed him back on the floor.

"Uh, well, you see, I'm kinda late for." Hiccup stuttered.

"WHAT!? Late for what, exactly?" An enraged sounding voice called from behind him and spun him around roughly with the lethal blade of an axe so Hiccup could fully see its source. His opponent, long-time crush, and at that very moment, greatest fear. The splotches of dirt abundantly clear on every bit of revealed skin from rolling around on the ground, the large amounts of sweat pouring down like a waterfall from her body, the frazzled and messy locks of golden hair that for so long made her seem so beautiful, and the wide, bloodshot eyes from weeks of frustration made Astrid look nothing short of crazed in Hiccup's perspective.

"The elder has decided," Stoick proclaimed from above as he gestured to a short, hunched old woman with a long, worn out staff made from a tree branch. This was Gothi, one of the Hooligans' elders, and it was she who ultimately would choose who would be the one to kill the Nightmare. The village stopped their cheers immediately as Hiccup and Astrid came together, standing a foot apart from each other, as a man almost as big as Stoick, with a blond mustache, a rock tooth, and most notably a hook hand and a peg leg came up. Gobber, the village blacksmith, childhood friend of Stoick and smithing mentor to Hiccup, raised his hook over Astrid, silently asking the elder if she would be the one. The elder merely shook her head with her eyes closed somewhat sadly; Astrid was a fine warrior, but Berk, as its chances of surviving against the continuous dragon raids grew ever slimmer, needed more. Astrid could only look up slightly wide-eyed and angrily shocked.

Gobber then moved his hook over Hiccup, who winced away in fear – it was always his greatest wish to kill a dragon, but truthfully, he just wanted to prove to his father that he was worth something, and could become a great Viking despite being a runt. Now he wished he could go back to being a runt, ignored, avoided; at least then he wouldn't have to spill blood like his people were expecting him to. To his horror, Gothi pointed at him with an excited nod: Hiccup, with his innovative ways of dealing with the monsters, would no doubt be a key asset in ridding Berk, the archipelago, and possibly the world, of dragons forever.

The stone-built Kill Ring with its metal fenced ceiling shook from the eruption of cheers from the Hooligans; Hiccup would be the one to kill the Nightmare, and finally prove his worth as a Viking and the heir to Berk.

Gobber looked back at him with more excitement than he had ever shown or felt in his life: he always knew the boy had potential, really, he was the only one who did. "Oh, you'v done it! You'v done it, 'iccup! You get ta kill tha dragon!", he happily exclaimed. He was thrilled, but Astrid could only slowly turn back and glare daggers at him, seething with anger. Hiccup could tell she wanted this more than anything: the honor, the glory, the recognition, and he came out of nowhere and snatched it from her. If nothing else, he could tell that asking her to go out with him was out of the question.

The other teens: the twins, Fishlegs, and his cousin Snotlout, rushed into the ring and hoisted Hiccup onto their shoulders like a hero: Hiccup the Useless, the screw-up, the downfall of Berk waiting to happen; who would have ever thought such a guy would pull it off? Hiccup could hear his father outside, laughing out only some of the words he'd waited so long to hear. "Haha, that's my boy!"

As he was being carried off to the sound of applause and cheering, Hiccup thought back to before it all, when the sounds that came from their mouths were quite the opposite of what they were now. When he was still the screw-up that everyone seemed to hate so. He had to wonder how much of what they said now was the truth? If they knew how he really got so good, who's to say it wouldn't all blow up in his face as they'd go right back to hating him?

At that point, his mind was made up, he knew what he had to do.

He feigned excitement with a bored look that would have been obvious if anyone was paying attention, and pumped his small fist half-heartedly into the air. He figured he would give them one last show before he made his next move. "Heh heh, oh, yeah." He nervously chuckled. "Yes! I can't wait! I am so…"

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><p>"Leaving! We're leaving!" Hiccup called out as he finally entered the secret cove that had become his special place over the last few weeks where he could meet with his dragon companion. It was surrounded on all sides by a steep rock wall with large pine trees atop, filled with boulders, a few dead trees on the sides, and a tiny stream flowing into a small, dirty pond. "Let's pack up! Looks like you and me are going on a little vacation... forever."<p>

Hiccup knew what he was doing was wrong, and a little ironic, now that the thought about it. The pride of his village and his father was what he'd strived for all those years and endured so much mental and emotional abuse for, to the point where he convinced himself he had to become a killer or either kill himself atop a funeral pyre to obtain it. And now that he finally had it, he found it discomforting and was leaving it all behind.

But he knew good and well that he couldn't stay. Hiccup couldn't kill that Monstrous Nightmare, he just couldn't. He knew that from the beginning of his Dragon Training. He told his father the night before he began that he couldn't kill a dragon, a statement he admittedly made at first due to the overwhelming terror of nearly dying at the claws of the most lethal dragon of all, but now he stood firm to it due to his bond with said dragon. If he killed the nightmare, it would be like killing Toothless on the inside, killing any dragon would evoke those feelings... betraying Toothless, his best friend, was far worse than betraying his entire village, he thought, so leaving was really his only option. It seemed what his father said on that fateful night was right: Hiccup was many things, but a dragon killer wasn't one of them.

Opening his bag as he set it on the ground, muttering an "Aw, man," Hiccup checked to make sure he had everything he needed; he had returned to his house just before heading off to the forest and packed all the things he had planned to take on his 'extended vacation' in the basket he had usually brought fish for Toothless in. A few extra sets of clothes, his blanket and pillow, his charcoal pencil, some journals, some supplies from the forge and his room, a fishing rod, his knife and a short sword (Also taken from the forge), a bunch of his old drawings, and the helmet his father gave him...

The helmet...

Hiccup brought that helmet with him to remind him of his mother, Valka, who had supposedly been carried away and eaten by dragons when he was just a baby. He knew so little of her due to the fact that Stoick sent him away whenever she came up in conversation, but he was aware that avenging her was one of the greatest reasons Stoick had placed so much effort and emphasis on killing dragons and laying down their carcasses upon the path that Hiccup was to follow once he had come of age. Despite the off-putting fact that it was originally half of the breastplate she wore in battle before getting married, it was a meaningful gift from his father, and also a reminder of the one and only time he had ever been proud of him or had actually even given a smile towards him. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But it was also the memory of a lie, one born of good conscience and mercy, yes, but a lie nonetheless. Weeks of faking it in the ring, appearing to bring down dragons without even touching them, fooling everyone into thinking he was some god-gifted savior sent to deliver them from the dragon scourge. That helmet, meant to be a symbol of love and pride, was now just one of deception...

Frustrated with everything going wrong right when it was going right, Hiccup let loose said frustration in an angry shout, slamming his helmet to the ground, kicked it, and sent it flying across the cove. The helmet hit one of the rocky walls, denting it in the process, and bounced off the rocks before dropping to the ground upturned.

Hiccup watched it fall, breathing heavily from physical and emotional exhaustion; it was all so messed up now. A system of secrets and deception as thick and tangled as the hairs of his father's beard and now there was no other way to end it but to cut off the main thread it all began with. He had barely felt something nuzzling his leg in his current state, but eventually he did and looked down to the source. Behind him was a large jet black dragon with acidic green eyes and massive bat like wings, along with a series of straps and pulleys attached to him. It was the dragon that Hiccup had been taking care of in the cove after he shot him down and stripped of the ability to fly when his tailfin tore off, the dragon he had been playing with, flying with, being truly happy with, in the course of the last few weeks: Toothless. Hiccup realized after a second that in his anger, he hadn't noticed that Toothless had come up to him, and the dragon was now staring up at him, his large eyes filled with worry over the young boy's apparent anger.

Hiccup's anger melted away as his face morphed into one of calm reassurance as he petted the Night Fury's nose. "I'm okay, Toothless. We're leaving."

Toothless cocked his head and gave him a curious look, as if to say, '_Leaving? But why?'_ Granted, when the dragon first landed in the cove and realized his tailfin had torn off, the cove felt like a prison. But over the days he had gotten to know Hiccup and bond with him, it felt like a real home. It would then be the place where he could see Hiccup every day, and that would always fill Toothless' heart with joy. It was a secret place where their friendship, considered taboo on both their kinds, could exist peacefully and away from judgmental eyes clouded by generations of hate and colored red with blood.

Hiccup didn't want to tell Toothless about killing one of his own kind; he could only wonder what the Night Fury would think of that. As close as they had become, any hint of the conflict between their races that still raged on outside their peaceful little haven could have brought them back to what was the reality of their world. Toothless had known that Hiccup was training against dragons if their lingering smells on him were any indication, but imagine how he would have reacted if he had picked up the scent of a dragon's blood on him. The thought of blood on his hands was enough to make Hiccup himself nearly gag – he had felt guilty enough when he robbed his dragon of flight, he couldn't even imagine robbing another of its life, however glorious his people deluded themselves into believing it was.

At that point, Hiccup would have been more than happy to make up an excuse: he would have said anything to get off that miserable little rock, but Toothless was like a brother to him and so deserved better. Pondering and searching for a suitable response, Hiccup sighed:

"I-I just can't do it anymore. I can't keep living like… this." He raised his arms out in a lifeless gesture, meaning little else but everything. "I've tried for years, _years, _to prove I could be one of them; it was what I'd always wanted, all I ever dreamed of. I thought I could be a Viking my way, do things a little differently and somehow, things would work out… eventually. But it never worked... nobody around here needed much convincing that 'different' was bad, now they have plenty good reason to hate me while they're cleaning up my messes. I'm… I'm tired of everyone just deciding I'm worthless, I'm tired of being a '_hiccup_.' Toothless, the truth is, you're all I've really got, my only real friend." Toothless crooned in sympathy and pressed his snout against Hiccup's tiny chest, closing his eyes and folding back his ear flaps to send whatever feeling of comfort to the boy he could.

Great job, Hiccup; not exactly a lie. It was technically the truth – before dragon training, before his success, people saw him as a nuisance, a weakling, who was only good for a laugh when being pushed around but otherwise being a constant source of trouble. His silly, convoluted little inventions, in their opinion, that he built to make up for his disappointing lack of strength often caused as much damage as the dragons themselves. No one in the village actually liked him or cared about him, they didn't even care about him now that he was good in training, despite all the good words they were saying, and by good, that meant as good as it could be without some blunt reminder that he was about as wide as a twig and as tough as a baby lamb. Respect and kindness were two very different things, though he was the only one who figured as much: respect was kindness in the eyes of men, actual kindness translated to being soft, and the only thing soft about Vikings were their distilled stomachs, more fat than muscle. What they had shown was neither, though; they were just glad that he was no longer a problem, no longer some living incarnation of disaster.

It _was_ the truth, as sad and hard as it was to admit, and it was one he had known his whole life, ever since the signs of his fragility became all the more apparent. Ever since then, it was just one awful day after another for the boy, facing everything from the other teens' abuse, to the villagers' cold indifference and gossip, and his father's scowls of disappointment. Hiccup had hid away the pain he felt from nearly fourteen years of all of this behind his intelligence and sarcasm, his bored face his shield and dry witty remarks his sword. But now with everything culminating in the way it was, it seemed his shield finally wore out, and his sword could not strike back against the force that was his father's cruel opinion.

"_All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen! Odin, it was rough, I almost gave up on you!"_

Every word he had said was muted out after that sentence by the feeling of his heart being run through. Why, after suspecting it for so long, did it hurt as it did? Knowing that his father had thought so little of him, practically nothing at all. It should have been obvious from the way he locked him inside the house to gather dust like a tiny dagger that even in the most experienced fighter's hands would be of no use, to the way he was passed off to Gobber to take up blacksmithing, when he knew his boy was nothing short of a klutz and couldn't even touch something without ending up bleeding afterward. Even years later, when the villagers came to the forge to get their weapons repaired, they would always insist that Gobber did the fixing. Everyone figured if Hiccup so much as laid a finger on it, it would break the second it was picked up or be hexed with his aura of failure and would result in their deaths.

His father: his father was truly the worst of them all, worse than the villagers, Snotlout, even worse than Astrid. He had placed shackles on the boy in the form of words and looks that would dismiss any kind of potential his boy might have had. It made it seem like it was Hiccup's own fault that he was born the way he was as some manner of choice, and the actions that made him a disgrace to Viking society were just some deliberate means to humiliate him.

Toothless could apparently sense Hiccup's distress in the form of gritted teeth and clenched fists and rubbed his head against the boy's arm. He purred in his most soothing way to him, trying to comfort him in any way possible.

Hiccup managed a small smile and knelt down, wrapping his thin arms as far around Toothless's neck as they could go in a hug. Toothless was more than just his friend, it always seemed, but also his confidant; around the dragon, Hiccup didn't have to be armed or on guard, he didn't have to be anything Vikings thought he should be: he could just be himself and Toothless would accept him. With a murderous creature whose name and cries sent fear drilling into the minds of battle-hardened Vikings, he felt safe and protected. The way a dragon would show him love even knowing what he had done as opposed to the people who figured he would have died the second he entered the Kill Ring or even set foot outside his own house and laugh about it long after he was gone could only make Hiccup wonder who the REAL monsters were.

"It's okay, bud." Hiccup said as he gently pulled out of the hug and held the sides of Toothless's large head. "We're getting out of here, where no one can hurt us again. When we leave, no one can tie us down anymore, and we won't have to hide just to have a few short hours of the day together. We can see the world, discover new places and learn new things, and maybe even find new species of dragons. Who knows, maybe we'll even find more Night Furies."

Toothless barked out what sounded like a cry of joy, his eyes sparkling. Honestly, he wasn't all that interested in finding more Night Furies; he had Hiccup, who in a short matter of time had become his world, his soul-mate, his everything. As long as he had Hiccup, Toothless knew he would be happy, but he had to admit, the prospect of finding more dragons of his breed sounded pretty exciting too. At heart, Toothless was, in all honestly, just a dragon who loved flying and adventure.

"That's the spirit!" Hiccup encouraged, his somber mood vanished instantly and replaced with excitement building in his voice, fists bouncing down almost as if to express it more. "We can do whatever we want now! _We're_ a tribe now, just you and me. We make our own rules, us against the world! You and me, we're free!"

Toothless hopped in joy, smiling his 'toothless' gummy smile and lolling his tongue out, his rider's joy infectiously flowing through his own veins. Hiccup was happy now, and that made him happy too.

Hiccup then grabbed his bag and climbed on top of Toothless, pressing his foot on the pedal and adjusting the prosthetic leather tailfin he had created to help Toothless fly again, and the dragon took to the sky like a shot. Once in the air, Hiccup thought back to his own words: now they were free, free of the pain and lies and secrets, now he could be with Toothless all the time and not have to go back and put on a show for anyone complete with a mask of indifference. Those performances were over, as was the fear of anyone peeking behind the curtain and finding what was backstage. Now he was free of their glares and gossip, all their jokes at his expense and all their expectations, especially his father's.

Hiccup had left a note for his father back at the house earlier right after he had finished packing; hopefully he was able to say all that he wanted to but never could, after all his father was never exactly the best listener, a trait Gobber always said ran in the family. If his father couldn't accept him for who and what he was, then he could burn in Hel for all Hiccup cared.

He made sure to hide all the drawings of Toothless he had drawn, as well as his numerous designs for his dragon's tailfin, both basic prints and upgrades, somewhere no one would ever find them. Hiccup wanted to make sure no one saw the drawings and eventually figure out his big secret, or notice he was gone until he was at least far enough away that they would have a better chance of finding the nest beforehand. Of course, his sudden departure was probably a little obvious, since he got carried away and cleaned his room while hiding any and all clues that would link to him and Toothless. But it didn't matter. Hey were going far, far away, intent on never seeing Berk, that little island located solidly on the meridian of misery, again.

As the two friends made way for the ocean, Hiccup couldn't help but look behind him, taking one last glance at the island where he had suffered for 14 long years, taking in a deep breath and yell at the top of his little lungs, "GOODBYE BERK! GOODBYE, MY LIFE-LONG NIGHTMARE!"

Toothless chuckled at that, and they sped off into the horizon, until Berk was completely out of sight. Now, they were free.

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><p><strong>Well, how'd you like the first chapter? I'll admit, not much different from the original other than the flashback but there's plenty to come. Let me know what you though in the reviews, I'd love to hear.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**I gotta say, I didn't really expect to get attention with this so fast, especially since it's just a rewrite, but wow, five favorites and follows already. Don't get me wrong, I like your reviews too, but I tend to pay attention to those more. Now the reviews I have gotten so far are asking for some spoilers, but I really don't want to reveal anything ahead of time. Those of you who want spoilers anyway can get a little taste, but like I said before my version will have some new stuff. All I can say is, just enjoy the ride.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248. That's just gonna be my disclaimer from now on.**

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><p>It wasn't long after the little parade that the Vikings had for the new town celebrity, Hiccup, that he decided to get some alone time; Stoick understood, after all, a tiny thing like him was going to need all the rest and preparation he could get if he was ever going to stand a chance at killing the Monstrous Nightmare tomorrow for his final test. As soon as all the Vikings cleared out and had returned to their homes, Stoick took a good look at the weapons rack over by the steel-barred entrance to the Kill Ring, weapons from swords and shields to hammers and knives lined up. He wondered what weapon his son would use to kill the demon that lied in wait inside the center cage, assumedly and appropriately preparing itself for its death. The dagger would probably be it, Stoick thought amusedly, since it would be the only one his frail son could lift, though he would have probably gone for the hammer himself.<p>

"Ah, Valka…" Stoick sighed with a smile as bright as the sun above the overcast sky, "if only you could see our little Hiccup now. A slayer of demons, a true Viking. I'm sure you'd be just as proud as I am now…"

And with that Stoick walked out back to his house, hoping his wife could hear him wherever she was now; Stoick remembered Valka was so worried when Hiccup was born so frail and small, that they would have to abandon him to die as custom dictated. But Stoick knew he'd pull through, and he did, albeit rather drudgingly. When he passed the stone bridge and walked up the hill back, he saw Hiccup at the front door of their house with a large bag slung over his shoulder. The second he caught sight of his father, the boy froze on the spot, looking at him rather nervously, like he had been caught red-handed.

"Uh, dad." Hiccup began. "Hey, I… I didn't think you'd be coming home so early. I mean you-you've got uh, duh… chief… stuff and everything and, um, stuff." Hiccup mumbled.

"I know, I know, but I figured we could put all that stuff aside for today, given the big news. I mean, you, Hiccup, my son Hiccup, being chosen ta kill the dragon! And here I was thinking Gobber an' the rest were pullin' my leg or somethin…" Stoick just laughed out loud, too caught up in his happiness to notice Hiccup staring at him angrily. He had managed to drop the look just as Stoick managed to calm himself down. "Ah, just look at you, all packed up and ready for… for, uh." Stoick said with a sheepish look and a hand to scratch the back of his head. Even for all the good things that were happening now, it seemed he could still barely hold a decent conversation with his son.

"For… some last minute training!" Hiccup began. "Yeah training… in the woods, where I always go. To do training and… give those dragons heck." He inwardly cursed at his inability to lie. Anything from his tone to his posture to his over-talkative nature could have given it all away.

He was lucky his father was so oblivious to all of his responses, honestly he never thought the day would come where he was thankful for his inattentive nature. Stoick was just beaming at that moment; here his son was, ready for some last minute training. It seemed he finally had the mindset of a real Viking: that, at least, he could be thankful for.

"Training! My son's ready to do a little training!" He laughed again. "Oh, I swear it's like I finally got my real son right here." Again, Stoick didn't notice Hiccup's angry look, or the way he clenched his hands and tightened his grip around the strap of his basket. Heck, he didn't even notice that Hiccup didn't even have on his usual fur vest, having a leather harness of sorts in its place. "You know, the ring's open right now, so you could do some practicin' there. No one's around and hey, like you need to worry about any dragons, ah?" He laughed again while playfully slapping Hiccup's back, his small exertion of strength enough to nearly push Hiccup over. The boy gave only a small grunt as he realigned himself.

"A-no, no, I'd really rather do this in the woods. It's my… personal place. Like where I can think and concentrate and plan and strategize and all that stuff. I mean, you know dragons… mindless, stupid, totally inferior to us Vikings. Yeah I-I just, you know, figure some mental preparation might still be in order though." He stuttered out again.

"Ah, gotcha, you can never be too careful with those tricky devils." He bobbed his head in understanding. "Well good luck. Train hard. I'll be here, definitely."

"And I'll be back… probably."

It was just the same response that Stoick had given Hiccup when he left for his expedition to find the dragon's nest somewhere in Helheim's Gate, and just as disconcerting now as it was that time. Stoick, of course, thought nothing of it, and let Hiccup go off into the woods, confident Hiccup would return ready to take his rightful place as his heir.

And so Stoick went inside, and sat in his large chair, covered with furs and began sharpening his axe with a whetting stone in front of the fire and waited, and waited, and waited.

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><p>Finally, after three and a half hours of waiting, Stoick's nerves finally got the better of him; he felt it a tiny bit in the pit of his gut when Hiccup had left and over time it was starting to grow. Now, when he stood up from his chair, did he feel the horrifying fear only a parent, even one as inattentive as him could feel. The dreading suspicion that that was the last time he would ever see his son.<p>

Opening the large door and letting the last rays of sunshine fill his quiet home, Stoick saw the sun could barely be seen on the horizon, practically gone completely to make way for the moon and stars. It was nearly nighttime and Hiccup still wasn't back yet.

Worry coursing through the veins of his beefy arms and neck, Stoick jogged out to the village, breaking into a cold sweat as he asked every villager that came into eye-shot if they had seen his son. Adults, to the teens, to the elders, to even the smallest children. He had even gone to ask the Hofferson girl, Hiccup's opponent in the final match today, to which she scoffed indifferently, saying she honestly didn't care where the little weasel went. It was obvious the girl was still carrying some jealous hostility over her own loss, which surprised neither her parents nor the chief himself. The young shield maiden had been persistently training for it for the longest time, and everyone figured she would ultimately be the one to win the kill in the end. Stoick decided to just leave it was he was and continue his search elsewhere, barely noticing the small glance of concern on Astrid's face as he left.

But everywhere he went, from the Meade Hall to the town square, and back at the Kill Ring, the responses were all the same. Hiccup had completely disappeared, and no one had seen hide nor hair of him. Even at the forge where Gobber was, there wasn't a sign of the young Viking-to-be.

It was ironic after years of looking over their shoulders for the walking disaster that was Hiccup, now no one could find him. After running around in a frenzy through the village, Stoick ordered all the Vikings to the Meade Hall to organize search parties to scan every inch of the island until Hiccup was found. Stoick himself decided to search the woods where Hiccup was reported to have last been seen going into; since no one really saw Hiccup around town in the afternoon, he figured with all possible locations in the village covered by other groups of Vikings, it was really the most logical place to look. He would have gone alone, but Gobber had caught up with him before he left, hobbling over on his one good leg as fast as he possibly could out the door of the forge.

"Stoick, what is goin' on 'ere? Is somethin' wrong? I 'avent seen ya this worked up since, well… ever. Not exactly livin' up to you'r name here, if I might so boldly point out."

All the crippled old blacksmith got as a response to whatever had Stoick so flustered was the chief bolting out the door. Naturally, that got Gobber worried: Hiccup was like a son to him, training him as his apprentice in the forge since Stoick would often times be too busy with his chieftain duties or hunts for the nests to train Hiccup himself. It was true that Stoick usually remained calm in the face of danger or problems, after all, he needed to be to reassure his people. But this was a matter that concerned Stoick not just as a chief, but as a father.

"Hiccup…" Stoick panted out in ragged breaths after running through the forest searching every square inch for any trace of said boy. "Hiccup's disappeared… no one's seen him since this afternoon." The chief didn't even turn around to face his old friend, but Gobber could tell that he was falling to pieces. "And here I thought the teenage drama was over and done with," he said with a sigh to ease the mood, probably. "Oh, well, we best be gettin' a move on, 'fore yur hair ends up like mine." He removed his long-horned helmet to show a bald head underneath, and Stoick slightly turned to smile as he went ahead with Gobber close behind. Stoick couldn't complain about him joining the search; having Gobber meant more ground to cover, which meant there was now a far better chance of finding Hiccup.

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><p>The two had trekked through the forest as fast as their legs could carry them; they had only been searching for an hour or so, although it felt like forever. The two men checked up and behind every tree, in every bush, and followed every path through the enormous pines but there was no trace of Stoick's boy. It was almost as if Hiccup had vanished off the face of the earth, something that in a time before all of this, might have been a welcome thing to some of the villagers, Stoick sadly imagined.<p>

It was now fully nighttime, the moon high in the sky, able to be seen from just over Raven's Point where his son had claimed less than a month ago to have allegedly shot down the most feared dragon in existence. Stoick hadn't seen his son in over five hours, and was about to go into a full-blown panic; it seemed Hiccup was determined to have his father's beard gray out long before its time.

By the time they reached Raven's Point, they stumbled upon a large cove, balancing over the edge of the steep rocks neither men ever really knew were there. Stoick sighed heavily in fear and frustration, desperately trying to bring his frayed nerves together. He turned around, about ready to return to the village and re-organize the search parties to cover new areas and bring more men into the forest to cover areas the two of them might have missed.

"This is a waste of time, Gobber, let's head back. Hiccup might have gone back to the village by now, and if not, we'll have the men redouble their efforts. I will not rest until I find him…"

"Eh, Stoick," Gobber called, snapping Stoick out of his thoughts. "Ye may wanna put tha' plan on hold for a momen' and come teke a look a' this."

Stoick turned around and saw Gobber standing at the entrance to the cove, pointing at something with his hook-hand, which caught his attention when he peered at it, and he climbed down to get a closer look. A circular object, appeared to be made of wood, wedged in between the massive stones that acted as a sort of gateway to the cove. Was that... was that a shield from the armory? It appeared to be, although it was now old and slightly worn, rust catching on the metal edges and slight signs of moss growing on the rotted wood, signs indicating it had been stuck there for a while. The shield blocked the entryway to the cove for the two massive men, but there was still a slight opening underneath that something or someone small enough could sneak past and get inside.

Like someone Hiccup's size...

Could Hiccup be here? Stoick considered that it might be possible when he inspected the size of the gap under the shield, Hiccup could have easily crawled through, something his small body would have actually been advantageous for. Punching through the decayed shield and easily smashing it to pieces, the two slowly entered the cove, a strange feeling slamming down over them. It was indescribable – it was almost as if the secluded area was… sacred, as if something forbidden had occurred in that very place.

"Hiccup!" Stoick yelled, his voice gruff and ragged with worry.

"Hiccup! Where are ya, lad?" Gobber called out, his own voice just the same.

"Hiccup, I know you're here! Come on out!" Stoick said, walking about, his eyes darting to every area inside the cove. "You've had enough time to yourself! If this is some kind of joke it's not funny! We need to get back to the village – everyone's worried sick! Your final test is TOMORROW; you know you're gonna have to kill that Nightmare!"

But, for as long as he called out, repeating the same things over and over at the top of his lungs, there was never even one reply back. Perhaps Hiccup was not in the cove after all. Before he turned back to head for the entrance, Stoick's foot suddenly hit something hard, a small clang ringing in his ears. He looked down, thinking that it was a rock, even though it wasn't possible for a rock to make such a metal sound.

He was right – it was definitely no rock. It was... Hiccup's helmet.

"What in the name of Thor...?" Stoick questioned as he knelt down and picked up the helmet in his right hand, analyzing it as he turned it around, noticing the small dent in it. Why would Hiccup leave this behind? Apprehension began to bubble in the chief's chest. That helmet was his gift to his son for his bravery in dragon training, the twin to the helmet that he wore as one of his last connections to his wife and Hiccup's mother. Hiccup had never known his mother, true, but even so: he wouldn't just leave it lying around to gather dust.

'What if something happened to him?' Stoick thought; it was really the only explanation his now-frantic thoughts could provide. "HICCUP?!" Stoick shouted, the previous apprehension in his heart evolving to fear in his voice. His mind flashed images of the dreaded night that haunted the sanctity of his dreams for years after it had happened, the night Valka had been taken in a dragon raid 14 years ago when Hiccup was only a baby. She was carried off into the night sky by a large dragon with four wings that no one had ever seen before nor had ever seen again. Stoick remembered how powerless he felt, watching from the gaping hole in their then-burning home as he held the infant Hiccup in the crook of his arm, silent has his child began to whimper as if he knew he would never see her again.

Hiccup was all that Stoick had left; he was his last connection to Valka, his eyes, hair and face matching his mother's to a tee. He might have been disappointed of Hiccup most of his life, but that didn't mean he didn't care about him or love him, he just had a hard time expressing it. Stoick was a wreck when Valka was taken to be killed by those Hel-spawned devils, barely speaking to anyone let alone being able to perform his duties as chief efficiently. If anything happened to his son...

"Stoick!" Gobber yelled in a panic from across the cove. "U need ta see this! Altho' I can't guarantee yul like 'et…" Stoick quickly went over to where Gobber was, his hook hand gesturing to something on the ground, some manner of imprints left by perhaps a wild animal. A closer inspection revealed them to be dragon footprints, although not any dragon he had ever seen before. The claws were too short and the prints too closely spaced to be either a Nadder, a Zippleback, or a Nightmare, yet slightly too far apart to be a Gronkle, and too big to be a Terror. Those were the most common dragons seen around Berk, so what kind could it have been?

"I also found these," said Gobber as he placed a small object in Stoick's hand, the object in question rather tiny by comparison. It was shiny, smooth, and colored pitch black. Stoick gasped as he drew together the connections as there was only one dragon he knew that had scales such as this, the very one so many Vikings had wasted their lives away in fear of. His memory bounced back to the night his son told him he had managed to shoot down said creature, stating it landed somewhere near this very spot. He shuddered in fear as he looked forward staring at nothing in particular.

_'Oh no, oh, Gods, no'_, Stoick though as he shook his head absentmindedly, close to losing what little sanity and control he had left. _'This can't be happening... No, not again..._'

"Are u thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Gobber asked, the look of terror in his eyes nearly rivaling Stoick's. "'Cause whut I'm thinkin' isn't good."

"We're going back," Stoick declared, standing up and turning around in the matter of a second. "And I want every able-bodied Viking looking. He's got to be here somewhere." Stoick didn't even wait for Gobber to respond, already running back to the village.

* * *

><p>After searching practically all night long and most of the next day, no one found any trace of Hiccup, and now several others were beginning to worry. They truly figured that recurring trend of bad things happening every time Hiccup so much as set foot outside was over and done with. It was really late the next day, about the same time Stoick and Gobber had found the cove, when Stoick and the search teams got back, having combed over the entire island, even the caves in the large snowy mountain that served as one of Berk's landmarks. Gobber insisted that Stoick sleep, convinced the chief would collapse where he stood if he carried on any longer. After a heated argument that involved lots of yelling and even some broken tables, he managed to convince Stoick to go home, although Stoick had no intention to sleep; his shot nerves and now overactive, panic-driven imagination refusing to let him.<p>

Stoick climbed up the steps to his home, finding it as quiet as it had been the previous evening, the fire not even lit to provide any kind of warmth or light. With the tiniest bit of hope, Stoick climbed up the stairs to Hiccup's room, praying to every God he could think of that the boy would be in there, asleep. His hopes and prayers were quickly crushed when he saw he wasn't.

But, instead of sorrow, Stoick's hope was replaced with shock when he was greeted to Hiccup's room. The room had been cleared of the drawings and blueprints that were usually hanging from the walls. Hiccup's worktable that he kept in there looked like it had been cleared also, mostly of his drawings but also of his pencils and any little gadgets he had been working on. The wooden plank bed Hiccup slept on stripped of its coverings, and the window over the headstand was shut. Instead of a room that looked well-loved and lived in, it looked cold and abandoned, as if its owner had long since departed from Midgard, which was something Stoick did not like one bit.

Shock quickly switched to confusion. Why would Hiccup have cleared out his room? With all they had found in the cove, did Hiccup somehow know he was going to die? Or was there more to it? Hiccup was always doing weird things that Stoick could never be sure about, but this one took the cake. Just what was going on here?

Stoick stepped into his son's room, ignoring the small fact that it was really one of the few, if not only times he had ever done so. Usually, there were papers, pencils, gears, springs, and small tools scattered across the floor, but it was clean. Stoick always hassled Hiccup to clean his room because he tended to trip over something every time he walked in, but now he wished it was still a pigsty.

Looking around the entirety of the room, more confusion filled Stoick's head as he continued to search. Hiccup's closet, he noticed, was missing some of his spare vests and tunics. His extra pair of boots was also gone.

_'Where is Hiccup?'_ He silently questioned repeatedly, each time only evoking more and more questions that didn't seem to have any answers. '_Where is my son? Why has his room been cleared? What's happening_?' Overwhelmed by the torrent of confusion engulfing his every waking thought, Stoick sat on the bed. It used to have a blanket and pillow, along with at least a dozen drawings Hiccup never picked up in his disturbing habit of sleeping with all sorts of papers in his bed. Without any of them, it might as well have been another empty sitting bench.

Save for one thing. As Stoick sat down, he knocked off a large piece of parchment paper Hiccup used to draw on rolled up on the edge of the bed and tied up in string, the roll landing by his foot. At first, Stoick thought that it was one of Hiccup's wild ideas, but in the inside of the roll of paper, he made out what appeared to be writing.

"A letter," he whispered. He picked up the paper, unrolled it and began to read, Hiccup's voice echoing in his head as he imagined him reading it out loud:

_'__Dear Dad,_

_If you've found this letter and are reading it now, then the first thing I should probably say is, I'm sorry._

_This is probably going to be incredibly difficult for you to swallow, or maybe it will be the news you've been waiting 14 long years for. I don't know, I guess I've never known. But I'm leaving Berk._

_I know that you see me as a mistake. I know that the entire village does, and I know that I'll never be good enough in anyone's eyes, yours or theirs._

_All my life, I've just wanted to be a warrior, like you. I could never do it your way though, so I had to find ways to compensate. I had to throw away everything that makes me… me, but for you, I always told myself it would be worth it in the end. I just wanted to make you proud, and I always hoped I would someday._

_But now I see that that someday was never going to come. You and everyone else hate me and always will, no matter how much I try, because I'm scrawny, weak, and… different… _

_I can't help the way I am, and you know what, I don't want to change just because you all think I'm some accident of nature. I've been treated like less than the dirt you walk on for long enough, I've jumped through too many flaming hoops to turn all that around, and I am DONE. I'm not sorry for how I am, Dad. Get over it._

_I hate Berk. And I hate hurting dragons. The training in the ring? That was just a show, a series of tricks for your cruel amusement._

_So yeah, killing a dragon makes me sick to my stomach; you have no idea how much I wanted to throw up when you talked about spilling Nadder guts and decapitating Gronkles. I'm NEVER going to kill a dragon, Dad. Never. I'm not a Viking and I never will be, I finally see that, and that is perfectly fine with me. I don't want to be a heartless killer like the rest of you. I'd MUCH rather betray my tribe than kill a misunderstood creature who has just as much right to live as the rest of us._

_This is my final goodbye. If you can find it in your heart, if you even have one of those, then let the Nightmare go – it shouldn't have to die in the name of what you consider honor. If that's not the kind of man you are though, then give Astrid the kill, she's got skills and she's wanted it more than I ever did. And take Snotlout as your heir. But be careful; he's so stupid, he can't tell the difference between a sword and a kitchen knife._

_Tell Gobber I said thank you. He was the only one who actually treated me with kindness, the kind I think Mom would have shown. I mean, seriously, just because we're- YOU'RE Vikings doesn't mean you all have to be impatient, ruthless barbarians who hurt and kill for no good reason other than you can. Maybe one day you'll realize that true strength is a bit more than that._

_Goodbye, Da- Stoick._

_-Hiccup'_

His hands fell limp to his sides as his fingers let the now-read letter drift down to the floor, his knees crashing down before it had even touched the ground. A horrible guilt tore at Stoick's stomach like an ocean wave shattering a feeble rock pillar on the open sea as he comprehended the awful truth. His horrid treatment of his son was all too clear now: he had treated him like rubbish, ignored his every thought and opinion, and drove him away as a result. How could he do that?

Small tears ran down the chief's face, his hands on the floor with fingers clenching into fists. A rare sight, indeed.

"He's gone," he thought, that word echoing in his head like a bad Viking song stuck on endless replay. Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone...

Gone. Hiccup's gone.

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow! Tell your friends, this is a pretty tight-knit fan community, after all. Bit of a heads up, I'm actually working on my own original story now, too. Stay tuned for when that pops up.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again. So, I've been looking at some of the reviews and I already see many people wondering if this is going to be a Hiccstrid story. Well, at first I was afraid of spoiling it, but then I figured: hey, this story has already been written, so what's the harm. I can assure people that this will NOT be any Hiccstrid in this; they'll have certain moments, but otherwise, no. I'll just be perfectly honest, I don't really like that girl. Like I said, there will be some extra stuff, but otherwise this story will, for the most part, follow the original.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>Word got around the village pretty quickly after Stoick had emerged from his home looking completely broken, just as he did the night he had lost Valka to the dragons. He had made his way to Gobber who was directing more groups of Viking in the still-ongoing search, and Vikings who had overheard and told each other. For as many who had been told, none could actually bring themselves to believe it. Hiccup? Left? It couldn't be true. He didn't have the guts to carry through with such an idea; still, his disappearance made it all too obvious he had.<p>

Everyone was distressed, still not wanting to accept even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Hiccup was now gone, never to return. Stoick had gathered everyone in the Meade Hall to read the note that Hiccup had left before he ran away. Needless to say there wasn't a single person who wasn't crying or didn't have their head hung down in shame by the time the meeting was over and everyone returned to their homes. They couldn't believe things were that bad for the poor boy, even the teens. Sure they were never ones for delicacy, but to think it would come to driving the boy away…

Snotlout felt so stupid; growling during the entirety of the trip back to his house. Hiccup was his cousin, his blood, but he used him as a punching bag every chance he got, whether it was for his horrible sense of fun or to dump off whatever aggravation he'd felt he didn't deserve because he was too perfect a Viking for such things. Maybe it was because Hiccup was an easy target, or maybe it was simply for the sake of keeping up what he had started when they were five, but Snotlout knew now that that was hardly an excuse for being what he had always been – a bully. Now, he would never get a chance to apologize.

What really burned at him, even though he didn't realize it, was this whole guilt trip was nothing but a fleeting afterthought; he was, for the most part too busy being mad at Hiccup for being enough of a cowardly wuss to not even stand up and face his problems and run away instead, along with ecstatically fantasizing all that he would be able to do now that ol' Useless was gone and he was the heir to Berk now, soon to become the next chief. In his self-absorbed mind, he now had it all, the looks, the respect, the strength, and now, the whole of Berk. Really, by the end of the day, he'd found the whole thing laughable that his wimp of a cousin even had the slightest notion that he was going to survive out there all on his own. It always seemed like he couldn't go two seconds without being in life-threatening peril, and now he was putting himself through it just because he couldn't cut it as a Viking. Honestly, the whole thing made him seem like a spoiled brat desperate for attention, and so wasn't even worth a second thought.

The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were equally guilty. They were always torturing Hiccup, whether on their own or posing as Snotlout's little lackeys; they always called out nasty comments and lived to physically hurt him. Even though they admired him to some extent due to his satisfying their lust for chaos and destruction with his attempts to help the village that always resulted in him and some odd number of buildings going down in flames, it was always a treat to pick on the little runt. Like the time when they were five, and they chased him through the woods, and up a tree, where they lied in wait for hours and then left him up there because he was scared to climb down himself and they had lost interest in scaring him: something about it being too easy. And when he finally tried to get down, he broke his leg and finally showed up in the village again after hours had passed, eyes full of tears and a horrible limp. The sad part was that when the adults found out, the twins had basically gotten off the hook completely with little more than a finger point and a simple 'don't do it again,' and Hiccup was the one reprimanded for not having the courage to stand up for himself and letting a little fall damage him so.

Then there was the time when they were eight and Dagur, the deranged son of the Berserker chief Oswald the Agreeable, tried to drown Hiccup in the ocean, and they joined in instead of helping by cutting the ropes and letting him sink in the waves only for the adults to fish him out later. Or the time when they were ten, and they tied him to a stick and tried to roast him over a fire as a sacrifice for Thor until Gobber stopped them and sent them to their home. They just laughed as Hiccup begged to be released, crying over not wanting to be a sacrifice, even saying how the Gods wouldn't like him anyway. They weren't REALLY going to sacrifice him, but he didn't know that – their dark humor was enough to make him believe anything along those lines. It felt good to see him cry at the time; now it didn't.

Fishlegs felt terrible, and unlike Snotlout or the twins, he wasn't afraid to let his guilt really show. He and Hiccup actually used to be friends when they were little, but when they grew up, everything seemed to change. Fishlegs was beginning to gain the standard Viking bulk while Hiccup remained as short as a stump and as thin as a stick; he was a lover of knowledge, an avid reader of the Book of Dragons, and that made him another target of constant bullying from Snotlout and the twins. Fishlegs eventually decided he didn't want to be an outcast to everyone, and now that his growth spurt had given him the chance not to be, stopped talking to Hiccup altogether and started hanging out with his former tormentors, even though they still didn't like him. Looking back on all the times he saw Hiccup alone, he understood he had basically abandoned him. He had chosen safety over friendship – now he wasn't sure he could call him a friend at all.

Astrid was feeling the worst of all, the news of Hiccup's leaving breaking her out of any kind of lingering anger she might have still felt.

She never accepted Hiccup. She thought he was a stupid kid, an insect, when all he ever wanted to do was be a part of their tribe. She shunned him, made him feel like nothing; glared daggers at him whenever he made one of his little 'hiccups' with his inventions; when he was being bullied in the long years prior to dragon training, she realized, she had always stood there just letting it all happen. Astrid always figured it was one more way she was better than the others, because she never partook in such childish activities. Really though, her inaction had been just one more form of cruelty to him, denying any sort of emotion even remotely similar to guilt or pity for such a pathetic creature or consideration. She had considered herself a goddess and would not bow down to his level, without ever realizing she may have been fueling the fires of hatred within him.

And really, when he was finally showing potential in dragon training, she went ahead and started saying horrible things herself, all out of petty jealousy, and words can hurt a Hell of a lot more than any punch or kick Snotlout could give him. Really, Hiccup stunk as a warrior and she was mad at him, then he finally got good, and she was still mad at him? Even one victory was too much for him to have in her perfectionist view? She had actually been planning to track Hiccup down and give him a piece of her mind for keeping secrets – after all, no one just got as good as he did overnight, especially him, and the fact that it happened was a total 180 in her world, but now she felt like scum for even thinking such things.

They viewed him as a plague and cast him out accordingly: they were all guilty.

* * *

><p>The sun was beginning to break on the horizon, the first sign of dawn: it had been three full days since Hiccup left Berk. He and Toothless had flown until almost midnight the first night before settling on a small island far away from Berk. Hiccup didn't know where he was, but it seemed like a good place to stop for a while. It had water, tall healthy trees and bushes filled with an assortment of nuts and berries, and was next to a vast ocean filled with their favorite fish, Icelandic Cod. He was sure they could stay a while.<p>

They had set up a small camp and remained on the island until afternoon the following day. Hiccup was now sitting on a small cliff, his fishing line cast into the ocean waiting for a bit. Toothless was napping back near the campsite; really, Hiccup thought, all that useless dragon did was eat, sleep, and fly. How anyone could consider him dangerous was beyond him. Still, Toothless was the best friend he had ever had, flaws and all, and he knew that Toothless felt the same about him. Together, the two were invincible, and with that reassuring though, Hiccup was now at peace to consider his future with his dragon companion.

_'I am so much better off without Berk constantly dragging me down_,' Hiccup thought to himself happily. '_Fourteen years, fourteen long painful years of loneliness and people underestimating me. And now it's all over – now I never have to see that stupid scowl on my dad's face again just because I'm not as big as a house, or deal with Snotlout's stupid ego that needs, like, ten Vikings to lift it up. I don't even have to think about Astrid; honestly, what did I ever see in her, anyway?_' He honestly had to wonder – in all honesty, when he looked back, he realized that it was her looks which first drew him to her. She had all the beauty of one of Odin's Valkyries and he could have just melted at the sight of those beautiful blue eyes. But take that away and what was left? Looks couldn't cover up personality, and once you moved past Astrid's, it was face-slapping obvious that she had a terrible, terrible personality. All the world was a massive Kill Ring to her and all the people merely more competitors for her to utterly humiliate. The near-insane look she displayed back when she was eliminated from Dragon Training in favor of him flashed through Hiccup's mind, making him shudder in disgust. '_Yeah, SO over her, now_.'

_'It's just me and Toothless now; he's all the family I need. Maybe we should just travel the world, like nomads. Yeah, that could be fun. We could meet new people, find new species of dragons. Who knows what the future has in store for a boy and a Night Fury_.'

As a child, Hiccup had been read stories of far off lands and kingdoms, with cultures entirely different from his own. Granted, there was the Roman Empire, who didn't take too kindly to Norsemen like him, but there were also lands with palaces made of stone, with warriors of an entirely different breed, and dragons of all shapes and sizes. And now he could see all of that, complete voyages it would take ship years to make in just weeks. With his journals, he could document everything from languages to cultures to fighting techniques and even legends. Indeed now that he was on the back of a dragon, the world was now a whole lot bigger.

Aw, man, it all sounds… too amazing. Just imagine what we could-'

That's when he heard it. A strange sound.

It was a strange, loud, wailing sound, very high pitched and almost infantile; it almost sounded like crying – it certainly sounded pained enough to be. At first, he tried to ignore it, thinking that it was the cry of a wild Terrible Terror due to it being so small. But a voice nagged at him in the back of his mind as he tried to put it past him and return to its fishing: _what if it's not a Terror? What if it's someone in trouble? Do you really want to take the risk of them dying just because you passed it off_?'

Hiccup thought on it and very quickly realized that no, he didn't. As reckless as he was in training a dragon, that didn't extend to cold abandonment. Hiccup wasn't that kind of person. So he gave in with a sigh and reeled in his fishing line without a catch. Grabbing his sword that he carried in a strap on his back just in case wild boars or wolves or even pirates showed up, he slowly made his way back into the tall pine forest, his ears honing in on the sound with every step. As he got closer and the crying grew louder, he began to realize that it wasn't a dragon noise – it had sounded too… human to be. Was that - was that a child's cry?

Hiccup continued trudging to the source of the sound and eventually stopped at a tangle of branches hanging from low trees. He parted the branches in his way to get a good look at what it was, and was shocked and stupefied by what he saw.

"What the-?!"

It was a baby. A baby, swaddled in blankets, lying alone in the grass, crying as hard as its tiny body could, almost as it was scared. Curiosity getting the better of him as it once did with his draconic friend – he realized he had a real problem with that - Hiccup returned his sword to its sheathed position in the holster on his back and slowly tiptoed his way to the baby, who was crying so hard it seemed as if it hardly noticed him until he carefully picked it up and placed it in his long noodle-like arms. One good look at the infant child's face made Hiccup melt inside – it was the most adorable thing he had ever seen, and he had seen Toothless with those pleading, dilated puppy dog eyes a lot of times.

The baby looked to be a boy, Hiccup could tell, that couldn't be any older than maybe a few months. He wore little footy pajamas made from sheep wool and just as soft, something Hiccup's mother had made for him when he was a baby. He had thin, barely noticeable strands of brown hair just beginning to grow on his head, and a cute, little button nose.

Hiccup bounced the baby as he cradled it, shushing to calm him down; little by little, the baby stopped crying and soon opened his big eyes to look at Hiccup. Hiccup could see the boy had green eyes just like his. Big, sad, green eyes that reminded Hiccup of the boy he used to be, and never wanted to be again. At that moment, they both knew they had something in common.

Perhaps it was some kind of message from the Gods, for him to meet this child that, as with Toothless, he could see himself in as if he was looking at a pure reflection of himself, but what kind of message? What did it mean? Hiccup could only wonder for a second before focusing back on the infant himself, a warm feeling growing inside him he would never had guessed had been adopted from his late mother.

"Hey, little guy," Hiccup gently said in almost a whisper, smiling with a manner of love and compassion only a parent could feel. He placed a finger inside the slip in the baby's clothes and onto his soft flesh, tickling the baby's belly and making him giggle. "What's a cute thing like you doing in a scary forest like this?" Hiccup seriously had to wonder that: this was, after all, a baby in his hands, and he knew for a fact that parents were not supposed to leave their children alone. Lest those children end up like him, bitter and unhappy with life.

"Where's your mama? Or your daddy?" _Daddy_ – the word felt like bile on his tongue, his issues with his own former father more than likely being the source of that feeling. Still, Hiccup had to remain impartial – all fathers were different, after all, and he knew he couldn't blame all for the actions of just one. His father had done so with the dragons, and look where it got everyone. Lives and livestock lost every other night and precious resources and manpower squandered on utterly pointless hunts for a nest they could never find. He started at the baby looking for an answer, almost like the baby could answer him; as suspected, the baby stared at him blankly.

According to Viking culture, babies who were too weak to become proper Vikings or even make it through the first few nights following their birth were to be left up in the mountains to die. A very harsh tradition, but necessary for a clan or tribe seeking to protect their reputation, and really, it seemed like reputation was the only thing any Viking really cared about. From their tribe's to their own individually to be boosted up by great accomplishments and feats of skill worthy of an awesome title that men and women would shout to the heavens in recognition; anything else besides that, even family, was of secondary importance. Hiccup despised that – he knew that deep down, if it were his father's choice, if his mother hadn't been taken that night, that would have been his fate. Yet he survived, and had been shaming his father and the Hooligan Tribe ever since. It seemed that the whole of tradition existed just to make him suffer for not being able to be something he wasn't. He would not let that happen to this child.

"Well, little guy, if you've got nowhere to go, why not come with me. I was planning on it being just me and my dragon, but hey, the more the merrier." He said to the baby, who smiled and cooed in response. Smiling, Hiccup carried the baby away back to his campsite. Boy, was Toothless going to be surprised…

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><p>It wasn't that long a walk back to the campsite, and the place in question was easily distinguishable from the surrounding area. It was a small clearing about half the size of the cove back on Berk – there was a small ring of rocks with burned sticks inside indicating a campfire already put out for the following day, and a small lean-to made up of stronger sticks found deeper in the woods and covered up with a leather tarp. Inside was his bag of supplies, still mostly filled with all its contents. The most discernible feature, however, was the large black dragon who was now wide awake and looking extremely irritated, like a doting older sibling or parent.<p>

_'Where the HELL have you been?!'_ The dragon seemed to say with his expression; Toothless was extremely protective of Hiccup, and as such didn't like it when his rider wander off. He couldn't even stand it when Hiccup left their cove for the day, and would always beg him to stay and spend more time with him, even hoping the boy would stay forever. Now, he had all day to worry about his boy, and as wonderful as it was, it was exhausting too.

"Sorry, bud," Hiccup apologized to his dragon. "But look what I found."

Hiccup held the baby up, grasping both sides of him, and then lowered the baby to Toothless, who sniffed at him. Toothless's irritable mood melted away as quickly as Hiccup's cautious one when he first saw it, replaced with curiosity as his eyes slightly morphed into slits and began to sniff the tiny creature in his rider's hands. Toothless had always wondered about humans before he met Hiccup, specifically basic facts like what they ate and why they only had fur on their heads and faces rather than their whole bodies, and why they had interchangeable furs. During dragon mating season, he had even wondered what the human equivalent of a dragon hatchling was – now, he guessed, he had his answer.

After a few more seconds of sniffing, pressing his large snout on the baby's belly to sniff its furs and blankets, he flashed a dragon grin and cooed: this creature was obviously harmless – what possible malice could an infant carry anyway?

He licked the baby's face slightly with his eyes dilated again, causing the creature to giggle. Toothless made a weird guttural sound, which was his equivalent to a laugh – apparently he made the baby happy.

_'But where's his mother? Or even his father?'_ The dragon seemed to be asking Hiccup as his eyes turned back to him. _'He's just a hatchling, after all.' _He looked back to the baby, appalled that anyone could leave such a fragile thing alone – then again, he had wondered the same thing about Hiccup ever since they left. Dragon parents were always taking care of their young: the mother would feed them and nest them while the father would teach them how to hunt and fly. Even if young dragons grew very quickly, having their parents to raise and nurture them was a necessity.

"I don't know where his parents are," Hiccup admitted sadly. "Or if he has any family nearby. Poor baby, all alone." His attention soon turned back to the baby as well, a single finger brushing against his tiny little cheek. "That's why I've decided that I'm going to take care of him. You don't mind, do you bud?" Hiccup asked Toothless, to which the dragon cooed and licked his cheek. Hiccup was a very kind person, just the kind of person that this child truly needed right now.

"Thanks bud," said Hiccup as he pat his dragon's head and gave him a light scratching. "I'll be sure not to let any of us down."

That's when Hiccup looked up and noticed that the sky was getting dark, the first of the stars appearing as the warm glow of the sun faded away.

The baby needed a place to sleep, somewhere warm and soft so he wouldn't be uncomfortable. So Hiccup walked over to the lean-to and emptied his bag of its contents, taking the fur blanket he had brought from his old home and placed it neatly on the ground, folded up halfway to protect the baby from the hard earth beneath. Then he carefully placed the baby in the bag, making sure that the blankets he already had on him were warm enough for him and wrapped up snug and tight. The baby looked so cozy that he fell to sleep almost immediately, so peaceful that Hiccup just wanted to drop to sleep right next to him.

"There you go," Hiccup said as he knelt down and stroked the baby's almost nonexistent hair. That's when a thought flashed through Hiccup's head – he had been calling the baby just 'the baby' this whole time. Hiccup knew that if he was going to be taking care of a child now, the first thing he needed to do was give said child a name.

"We should name him," he said out loud, pondering some names for Norse children as Toothless stomped over next to him, his left arm holding his right with his finger bent on his lips in deep thought. "How about..." Hiccup trailed off, thinking for a while before an idea popped into his head.

"Alvis?"

Toothless cocked his head at the sound of the name, then looked down and narrowed his eyes as if considering the name himself. Before long, he nodded in approval. _'It's interesting... Like Hiccup.'_

"Hey!" Hiccup jokingly protested, like he was reading Toothless's thoughts. Sure Vikings didn't always have the most elegant or refined sounding names: his full name, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, was a prime example of that, but parents always believed a hideous name would frighten off the gnomes and trolls his father had always told him and Gobber were only imaginary. As if their charming Viking demeanor wouldn't do that.

Toothless snickered before licking his cheek again, bringing a smile to Hiccup's face. Honestly, how could one dragon be so infuriating and so loveable at the same time.

"All right, you stupid reptile. Alvis it is," Hiccup declared as he looked back to the baby, hesitating for a moment before bending over to kiss its forehead goodnight.

_'Guess what, Hiccup?'_ Toothless seemed to ask in a soft yipping noise.

"What?" Hiccup turned back to look at Toothless.

_'You're a daddy now.'_

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow. The next chapter, for those of you have followed the original, is going to be a little different.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey there, guys. So I've been checking some of the reviews, and I recently got a PM from NightShade248 regarding one from a 'Ember Neutron.' At this point I feel there is some need for a little clarification, so let me point some things out right now.**

**- First, the review. As NightShade pointed out, this person asked about the ORIGINAL, original ending, from the first version that the writer deleted and then redone and reposted under a new account. I'm telling you guys right now - THAT new one is the one I'm rewriting, the one that is still on this site now under the same name. No sad, abrupt ending, no 'WTH?' tragedy. I myself was just as disappointed at that ending as the writer, and I know they don't want to bring it up, as they said multiple times in each chapter. So, no death; drama yes, but no death.**

**- Second, I got a review saying what I'm going for with this 'new' version, and how is it different. When I say it's different compared to the old one, I mean there's a lot more commentary, I really try to delve into the characters and their personalities here. You can also expect to see a lot of stuff like extended conversations/interactions between characters and additional scenes. For new readers, find the original story with the same name and compare it to this one. You'll see some of the differences almost instantly. This chapter right here is a clear example of where things get drawn out a little.**

**I'll do my best to answer any questions people may have about this without spoiling. Keep in mind that I want to be courteous to folks who are sticking with this version and want to see where it goes. In the meantime, enjoy this one.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

* * *

><p>"Hiccup, where are you?" Stoick questioned as he walked back and forth in his son's room, hunched over and in a state of extreme depression, red-eyed from days of sobbing with wrinkles forming that looked like they belong on the face of a man far beyond his years. "Why haven't you come home yet?"<p>

Stoick was out of his mind with grief and worry: it was now day four since Hiccup had disappeared. Stoick had hoped that at the end of every passing day that it would all be some prank just to spite him, and Hiccup would just give up and jump out of whatever hiding place he found as if it was all some game. He hoped his boy would have come home by now, home to him where he would just welcome him without even a lecture of any sort, but he hadn't.

Since Hiccup ran away, Stoick had been spending the days searching the island for every hour the sun was up, and spending all night in his son's room. Frankly it was both saddening and concerning for the other villagers to see their chief in such a pitiful state, but he didn't care. Stoick just wanted to all of a sudden wake up from it all and find his son in his bed instead of himself, dismissing it all as a bad dream.

But it was not a dream. It was real life.

And Berk was a relatively small island. Other than the woods and other areas outside the village, there were only so many places to hide there, even for a small boy like Hiccup. And given the time between when they had first noticed him missing and now, someone was bound to have found him and brought him back to the village, if he really was still on the island. If something didn't change soon, Stoick would have to send a boat out to sea to search for his missing son.

That was one of the many things about the whole case that truly baffled the village chief. If Hiccup wasn't on the island, than he had to be out at sea somewhere, and that meant he had to have a boat; he certainly couldn't swim across an entire ocean to another island, no one could. But when he checked with his brother and Snotlout's father Spitelout and Gobber, he found no boats were missing from port. What could that mean?

But, then again, Hiccup was a smart boy, possibly smarter than any other Viking on the island; he used his head, his intelligence making up for any physical strength he might have lacked. He was also good with his hands instead of his fists – he had years of working in the forge alongside Gobber to thank for that. At first, he had placed Hiccup there under Gobber's tutelage in order to beef him up and actually get some muscle on those skinny arms, but as it became clear that Hiccup was a lost cause and continued destroying houses alongside the dragons with his inventions, he just left him there to keep him out of trouble. He could have simply just constructed a boat out of spare parts laying around the forge himself and used that to escape. But if that were the case, then Gobber, who kept track of every material despite his messy tendencies, should have noticed parts missing, and aside from Hiccup's tools and drawings, everything was still there. And besides that, someone would have noticed Hiccup leaving – a boat could only go so fast.

Aside from the fact that Stoick was now in his room, it was almost like Hiccup had ceased to exist, and Stoick had felt like rubbish because of it. It felt like it was all his fault. He was the one who had driven his son, his only child, his only piece of Valka, away. Sure, Stoick knew full and well in recognition of his constant duties as chief that he wasn't the perfect father. But who was? It's not like anyone had really boiled parenting down to a science.

But he wasn't just not the perfect father. He was the farthest from that. He always put his son down, said hurtful things to him, and dismissed all his ideas, ideas that, now that he really thought about it, could have really improved the quality of life on Berk, from automated security systems for the storehouses, to new types of weapons and upgrades that could drive the dragons away. Really, those machines of his were like him; they just needed a little fine tuning and could have worked out. If only they had been given a chance.

Ever since Valka was lost to them, Stoick and Hiccup grew apart over the years, to the point of just keeping him in the house while he was busy. It got to the point that Stoick couldn't stand to look at Hiccup, and automatically contorted his face into a shameful scowl too much, which was understandable in some ways according to Spitelout and the other villagers. Hiccup was a scrawny boy, his habits and figure earning him the infamous reputation as 'Hiccup the Useless'. The villagers always gave him their heartfelt condolences for being 'cursed by the gods' for ever being saddled with such a sorry offspring.

But there was more than just his diminutive size that made Stoick angry every time he looked at his son. Heredity also attributed to that – Hiccup was the living image of his mother, looking and acting almost exactly like her. Stoick had thought that he had managed to move on past the grief of losing his wife, but seeing her every day, in Hiccup, the child who she made him promise always to protect, was the blade that cut through his lies like butter. It seemed like he was punishing his own son for bringing up those long-lost memories, for not obtaining a single trait from him to balance out the resemblance to Valka in his mind, and perhaps that was what had caused him to resent his father in turn.

And he and his mother were both always saying or coming up with something completely wacky, something preposterous that seemed to challenge everything they knew about the natural world. Once when Hiccup was four, he asked his father if the sun was made of cheese, since it was yellow. It reminded Stoick of the time when Valka told him that she had this crazy theory that there was no end of the Earth, remembering a shield maiden from the Hofferson house that sailed to the edge of the world as tribute to their highest God, Odin, but had always come back in the opposite direction after years of being gone. Because of that, she believed that the Earth was round, shaped just like the moon.

And then of course there were her views on the dragons; rather not all that far-fetched and never all that jokingly, she refused to take any part in the raids. She was always spouting such insane nonsense as dragons being intelligent creatures capable of feeling, and insisted that they stop fighting them. She was convinced that acts of aggression would only cause the conflict to escalate. No one ever listened to her – yet another trait that seemed to pass on to her only child.

Stoick thought that practically everything she said was ridiculous, but he loved that woman anyway; if nothing else, she knew how to make him laugh.

But that's what bothered him. He used to listen to Valka ramble on and on about the silliest things, enough to make any Viking who liked having their feet planted in reality tie themselves off to a ship mast and cast themselves off to sea, but he always let that go. Her crazy stories and amazing imagination were what got him to fall in love with her in the first place. But when Hiccup did it, he was the Viking who wanted to be cast off. Every word or idea a chaotic crack in his firm land born of order and tradition. Dear gods, that boy gave him a headache every time he so much as opened his mouth.

Stoick shook his head – for him to even think that! Why should Valka get a free pass and not Hiccup? Were they not flesh and blood; was the boy not his son. Didn't his ideas amount to anything?

All reflections aside, all Stoick wanted right now was for Hiccup to come home and to walk right through the door of their house, and say in that sweet nasally voice of his that he was home and to call him his dad. Stoick truly wanted to apologize, get down on his knees and beg for his child's forgiveness. Then get up again and hug his son until his bones were ready to crack, and tell him how important he really was to him. Stoick was ready to banish himself from the island. He felt he deserved the worst punishment imaginable for what he did.

Emotionally exhausted from days of self-punishment, Stoick lifted himself up from Hiccup's bed and made his way down the stairs. His duties to Berk weren't going to wait for him to get better: they didn't when it was Valka, and they won't now that it was Hiccup. Making his way down the stairs he opened the large door to find Gobber standing there right in front of him, his knuckles raised as if about to knock on the door himself.

Stoick sighed; he truly wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone. He just wanted the world to go away and leave him in drown in his own self-disappointment.

"Eh, so…" Gobber finally started after a long awkward pause, noting the stressed and sorrowful look on his face, "how ya holding up, Chief?"

Stoick said nothing, instead turning away and setting down the hill as if Gobber wasn't even there. Gobber hobbled after him, looking worried. He knew his friend would be in bad shape, but the way Stoick looked when he opened the door – he was truly looking at a broken man.

"Now, hold up, Stoick! Ya can't keep goin' on like this!" Gobber reassured him, "'Iccup… Iccup was…"

"DON'T SAY IT GOBBER!" Stoick shouted all of a sudden with so much force his face turned red from the strain on his lungs. He didn't want to hear any kind of comfort from anyone; he knew what he did was unforgivable and no one was going to convince him otherwise. "Hiccup ran away, to get away from us, get away from ME! Gods, I am such an idiot! I couldn't have been bothered to be a decent parent, not even once!"

"Under normal, or better circumstances, I'd be inclined to agree with ya," replied Gobber with his usual brand of humor. "But let's not go overboard here. If there's one thin' I've always noticed between you and Hiccup, it's tha' the two of ya had… 'communication issues.'"

Stoick growled. "If your goal is to give me a pick-me-up, let me just say you're not off to a good start."

"Just bear with me 'till the finish, would ya?" Gobber said, although to be honest, he had no idea where he was going with his little pep talk. "Look, he's stronger than ya' realize. I know fur a fact tha' wherever he is, he's gonna be alright. He's not gonna let a few words get the better of him."

It was meant to be kind words from a friend, but it only made Stoick's fists clench in jealousy. Gobber had been practically raising Hiccup in his place for all the time Hiccup was in the forge. That was supposed to be his job. And the end result was Gobber, who wasn't even related to him, knew Hiccup better than his own father ever did.

"Oh, and you know that for a fact? Even after I read that little letter of his" Stoick growled darkly, disturbing Gobber for a moment as the chief then slowly chucked and then burst into forced laughter. "You think that weak little piece of trash is STRONG!? You talk like you know him inside and out! That's supposed to be me!"

"Now, Stoick-"

"We all should have known this was coming, Gobber. The runt couldn't tough it out, not even once! We should be glad he's gone, no more houses being destroyed, no more free handouts to the dragons. He was nothing but a nuisance and everyone knows it." Stoick continued to laugh, even as what little piece of him that wasn't consumed by guilt was trying to beat him bloody for even spouting such horrible words, and Gobber behind him was glaring like he was about ready to do the same. "Come on, I say we throw a party like the others said! Out with the old and in with the new! No one will miss that tiny, spineless little-"

Stoick was abruptly interrupted when Gobber grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him around to give him a solid punch in the face. Stoick collapsed on the ground and was left completely dazed.

"Listen ta' yerself! What's wrong with u, Stoick!?" Gobber shouted – it was now his turn to do so. "Saying such things about yer boy. Disgraceful! Is this truly Stoick the Vast, our chieftain who has guided us to safety and kept us together for who-knows-how-many winters? No wonder 'Iccup up and ran away!"

Gobber took a moment before realizing what he had just said, and what effect it had on its target. Stoick snapped out of his daze, and was beginning to silently sob on the ground. Other Vikings, who had heard the commotion – really they would have to be deaf not to – were shocked and saddened to the verge of tears to see their chief in such a state, each remembering their own parts in what they had lost. Everyone turned their heads away, a small gesture of kindness to a great man who had lost everything.

"Oh, son… I'm so, so sorry…"

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><p>The teens watched from the steps of the Great Hall as their once great chief laid on the ground in a pure mess, a shell of the great man he once was, and it made them sick to their stomachs. Other children who tried to look only had their attention and their hands seized by their parents. Every face in the village had become blank and lifeless, like that of the outcast who had self-exiled himself in his anguish. It sickened them all to no end.<p>

Fishlegs turned to the others, Astrid and the twins, and broke the silence that had long been standing between them. "Do… do you think we could have stopped it?" He solemnly asked.

"I don't know. It's not like we gave him many good things to hold onto." Said Astrid, sitting on the stone rail that surrounded the steps, her hands clasped together. It was like that all day – the four of them tried hard to imagine if there had been any pleasant memories they left with Hiccup that might have convinced him to forget any plans of leaving. Granted there were some things, but every one ended in heart-shattering betrayal for the feeble heir. It seemed Hiccup's running away was a final revenge of sorts for such things – perhaps they deserved it.

"Ya noticed how boring the place is nowadays?" Tuffnut asked out of the blue, casing Astrid and Fishlegs to turn to him in confusion. "Seriously, nothing burning or getting blown up."

"We still have those gods-forsaken dragons doing all that. Isn't that enough for you?" Astrid asked in annoyance.

"Yeah, but it was always more fun when Hiccup did it." Tuffnut retaliated with a smile that was nothing short of insane.

"I know, remember that time when he got that doo-hickey that blew up the armory?" Asked Ruffnut, the female twin.

"Or that time when he set every sheep in the pen on fire and they set the fields burning. That was classic." Tuffnut recalled.

"Ooh, don't forget when he tried to fix up that catapult and blew up Mildew's house on the other side of the hill. I almost cried, it was so beautiful." Ruffnut said, wiping a tear from her eye at what she considered beauty in a glorious burst of flame, to which Tuffnut only cackled.

"Are you guys serious? " Fishlegs asked in utter disbelief, shaking his head. "You liked him for pretty much the same reasons everyone else hated him?"

"Hey, I didn't hear anyone complaining when Mildew's house went burning down." Tuffnut said in defense.

"Well, except Mildew, but that guy complains about everything." Ruffnut continued. Mildew was one of the oldest residents of the island, and always had something to whine about. It truly seemed as if a day was never complete without a complaint or two about something. He was never happy about anything, and he was particularly spiteful towards Hiccup, more so and more openly than anyone else. His complaints made others upset in turn, so they built his house on the other side of the hill away from the other houses, so people could avoid him as much as possible.

"WHO CARES ABOUT THAT STUPID OLD CODGER!" Screamed Astrid at them. "We drove away our future chief, one of our own, and the only thing you miss about him is his track record of slip-ups? You all saw him as a worm and squished him in kind! How can you even live with yourselves!?"

She pointed to Fishlegs: "YOU! You turned on him like a coward just because you wanted to be one of the cool kids!" She then turned to the twins: "YOU TWO! You chased him around with any weapon you could find 'cause you reveled in seeing him bleed like the psychos you are!"

A long pause followed her outburst as they just stared at her, at first in shock, but then in irritation.

"Well, what about you?" Said Tuffnut with a cold sneer. "Not like you're guilt-free, little miss perfect."

"Yeah, little miss 'messed-up-my-somersault-reverse-dive-tumble-thingy,'" Ruffnut said in vague recollection of Astrid assessment of her battle skills from weeks before, though not interested enough to care.

Astrid widened her eyes in shock before narrowing them again at the dimwitted twins' challenge. "What?" She growled dangerously.

"Don't play innocent, Astrid," said Fishlegs from behind her in a quivering voice. Aside from being strong, Astrid was fierce and had a fuse as short as a knife, and had no problem pummeling him into the ground if he said anything out of line. He didn't care though – this time it was her who was out of line for even thinking that she was any better than them. "Y-You're just as much the problem as any of us. You hurt Hiccup too."

Astrid's eyes widened again so much her eyes nearly popped out of her sockets; she had forgotten, or tried to forget any role she had in Hiccup's departure, and now it was all coming back like a hammer to the face. She backed away slightly as the others turned to face her and closed in, all with angry glares, which caused her to back away more.

"It's your fault too."

"Don't think you're any better."

"He left 'cause of you."

All this and more was repeated in anger as cold glares came in on her like a pack of wolves – to Astrid, it was a waking nightmare. She couldn't take it, she couldn't believe it, her honor wouldn't let her accept that she had helped to drive a boy to such extremes. She quickly ran away from the three, not caring where her feet took her. Eventually she came to the edge of the forest, where she usually trained in preparation for the next day of Dragon Training. She could even see the tree with all the deep notches in it from her axe that she had carved in when she threw it to improve her speed and her reflexes.

She was gasping for breath, trying to block all the voices from her head that implicated guilt, the demons inside that threatened her with memories of her crimes. She fell to her knees and just sat there – for now, she just wanted to be alone.

It seemed the gods wouldn't have it as she heard the never-welcome sound of a voice positively oozing with vanity. Snotlout.

"Hey, babe." He called out from behind her, bringing a snarl to her face – god how she hated it when he called her that. "What's a delicate flower like you doing in a scary face like this?"

"Go away, Snotlout. I'm seriously not in the mood right now." Astrid replied.

"Aw, but if I leave, who will be here to protect you?" Snotlout said, flexing his arms in that annoying way he always did. Gods, Astrid thought, did this boy have any redeeming qualities? He was arrogant, egotistical, spoiled, and stupid: why was it that everyone could see it but him?

"The only thing I need protection from is YOU!" Astrid shouted while bouncing back to her feet. "When will you get it through your thick skull that I'd rather jump off a cliff and be dragon feed than be your girlfriend."

"Mm-hmm" Snotlout said in thought, though it was perfectly clear that the comment, like all of Astrid's insults, blew over his head once again. "Astrid, what do you see when you look at this?"

"You do not want me to answer that question..." Astrid deadpanned.

"You're right – I think we both know what the obvious answer is." Snotlout replied with a smirk, all though his and Astrid's definitions of 'obvious' were entirely different. "Then let me ask: what _should_ you see when you look at this?"

Astrid raised her eyebrow at the second question. Just where was Snotlout going with all this? Knowing him, probably another hour-long 'Snotlout is awesome' rant.

"Your future husband and chief!" Snotlout exclaimed in full conceited excitement.

"WHAT!?" Astrid shrieked.

"That's right – Stoick's gonna announce it once he gets over 'what's-his-face.' I'm gonna be the next chief since I'm the only other heir Berk's got. Finally, this place is gonna have the great Chief it deserves. And if that isn't enough good news for ya, my dad is gonna be offering your parents a marriage contract, and I think we both know what they're gonna say."

"Well, do you know what I'm gonna say." Astrid muttered darkly before turning to him in full-on rage. "NOT IN A MILLION YEARS!" Even if Spitelout was related to the chief and could offer the Hofferson clan great wealth for accepting the contract and giving Snotlout Astrid's hand in marriage, there was no way in Hel she would go along with it. As far as she was concerned, death would have been a more pleasurable experience than living in the same house with him for the rest of her life and worse, forced to bear his children.

"Come on, we both know you want this." Snotlout said leaning in as if he was about ready to kiss her. Yeah, not gonna happen.

"Let me tell you what I want – for you to take a hint and get a life!" Astrid shouted as she pulled out her axe again and strode towards Snotlout, who backed away in intimidation from the look of murder on her face. "And here's why: one, I'm a shield-maiden, that's how it's always been and that's the way it's gonna stay – no stinking way would I be reduced to serving you food on a platter and washing your putrid socks! Two, as if I could ever be with someone who could cast aside his own family so easily just so he could get what he wanted. 'What's-his-face?' Do you even care about Hiccup at all? Did you ever?"

By now, Snotlout had his back pinned to the tree, but by the time Astrid was finished, that stupid conceited smirk reappeared on his face.

"Sorry, I don't know a 'Hiccup' – at least not one that was ever chief material, or even run-of-the-mill Viking material for that matter," said Snotlout cruelly. "Now when you say… '_Useless,_' that rings a bell or two." He could barely finish his last sentence before cackling out loud.

"How DARE you!" Astrid screamed as she pressed the sharpened blade into Snotlout's fat neck, drawing out the slightest trickles of blood. "He was your family and you'd still call him that? Don't you feel anything at all for him after all the misery you put him through?"

This got Snotlout's attention: deep down he did feel a bottomless hole of regret eating away at him for everything he said and did to hurt his baby cousin. Adding to that feeling was the fact that now he could never take any of it back. But he'd figured everyone was trying to forget about Hiccup – at least, that's what his father told him – and so he tried to do the same. It was admittedly rather easy when he had considered all the good things that were going to be happening to him.

Still, Astrid was not one to talk, especially in light of recent events. "You've got a lot of nerve, you know that?" He said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Threatened Astrid; she was doing it again and didn't even know it.

"You know full-on what, o great goddess!" Snotlout yelled. "Since when did you start getting so defensive over him? Last I checked, you had some serious issues with him getting in your way."

Astrid gasped, subconsciously letting up on her axe grip and on Snotlout's shirt. The Hofferson clan had been counting on her victory ever since her uncle, 'Fearless' Finn Hofferson had been supposedly 'frozen in fear' by a mysterious breed of dragon called the Flightmare, whose body glowed like Arvindale's Fire, the lights that illuminated Berk every year when she was a young girl. Her family name had been shamed ever since his untimely end. To avenge her uncle and restore the Hoffersons to full glory, she had thrust herself into her training. No one thought a girl Viking, much less one who bore the Hofferson name, could ever cut it on the battlefield, but she had proven them all wrong by being the best Viking of her generation. It was her greatest pride, that her talent had gotten her far enough to have her placed on a pedestal in the eyes of her peers, and Hiccup had taken all that away from her with his sudden success. Now he had been the one everyone was praising, and Astrid had become yesterday's news. Maybe somewhere deep down she still resented him for it – even gone, that persistent little shrimp was still the center of attention.

"I'd have figured you'd be happy now that everyone's focused on you again. Now that he's gone, you get to kill the dragon. You get to prove that you and your family don't turn tail and run like little fraidy-Hiccups at the sight of dragons." Snotlout taunted, hitting Astrid right In that sensitive spot even she didn't know about. Now the tables had turned, now he was the one confronting her, while she was backing away as she did before with the others.

"No-No I… I mean, yeah, but… not like this. I-I didn't mean to..." Astrid stuttered. Both of them thought it was very unbecoming of her, but Snotlout wasn't about to let up.

"Now your little burden is gone, now there's no one to stand in your way…" he continued.

"H-He wasn't a… I didn't mean to…"

"You're not saying you're okay with it all now." Snotlout said, his smirk turning into a snarl. "Since when does Astrid Hofferson, or any Viking for that matter, feel sorry for their opponents?"

"I-I-I…" Astrid couldn't even get a word out anymore. Her face was turning red and the faintest sign of tears began to form, but not enough for Snotlout to notice.

He snorted and chuckled under his breath in mockery – he had her now. "Come on, Astrid, what stings the most? That he could take down dragons with his hands when you couldn't even with your axe? That he put all your years of training to shame and stole your dream? That everyone liked him better than you?"

Astrid couldn't even speak anymore, or even glare back. She was scared that a moron like Snotlout was calling her out on everything she felt in the previous few weeks. She had always been praised on her beauty, but now she was being made to stare at her own deeds, the reflection of her old self, and it was the most hideous thing she had ever seen in her life.

"Or is it because now you'll never have the chance to tell him-"

He couldn't finish that sentence as Astrid punched him square in the face, breaking his nose. He was knocked back and clutched his nose as it began bleeding, flailing on the ground like a fish on land. Astrid couldn't bear to let him finish that sentence, whatever it was he'd planned to say. She couldn't pretend anymore, not when everything was staring her in the face.

Her fist fell limply to her side and she dropped to her knees. After a few moments, quick as a whip she brought her hands to her face and sobbed violently as Stoick did in the square. Like him, she didn't care who was watching – this was her punishment for her greed. Her stupid dreams caused this.

"Hiccup… I-I'm sorry. Please, please forgive me…" She said to the wind, hoping it would carry her pleas to him, wherever he was.

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow! I'm glad to see how this is turning out. And if you haven't already, check out my other fic, 'Dragon's Hero.' First chapter is already up.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p><em>Hiccup blinked and slightly opened his eyes, his surroundings as completely dark as if his eyes were still closed, save for a small bit of light coming from a barred window at the top of the stone wall he was leaning against. The light came from the crescent moon blocked by heavy snow clouds, signifying a coming storm. Yet it was still enough to reveal his location: a cold prison chamber made from mismatched stone bricks, a pile of old, moldy hay on the floor right next to him, and iron bars blocking the entrance to a hall completely shrouded in darkness. His clothes were tattered, ripped apart with terrible cuts and bruises bleeding and swelling underneath. Both his wrists were shackled with rusty chains leading up to the walls. He was shuddering, and not just because it was freezing inside the desolate cell; he was completely alone. <em>

_Tears were streaking down his cheeks, fresh ones covering up the dried trails of the countless ones he had cried previously, his eyes red and blood-shot. Hiccup__ was absolutely miserable, shown by his body hanging limply in fear and sorrow. He slowly raised his head, then quickly lowered it again, unable to bear the two images presented to him._

_Toothless – his closest friend and partner, laying in a pool of his own blood. Swords, axes, arrows, all manner of weapons were sticking out of his body, his face mangled and both of his ear flaps were chopped off and his head twisted in an unnatural position._ _And Alvis: sweet, little, oh-so innocent Alvis laid on the ground near the carcass of the dragon. Five daggers were sticking out of his little chest, forever silencing his cries for his new father..._

_"__Why? Why did you take them from me?" Hiccup quietly sobbed to no one in particular. "Why…?_

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><p>Waking up in a panic, Hiccup bolted into half sitting position supporting himself on his elbow, wide-eyed and panting. His head whirled around in a near complete 360 degree spin, almost cracking his neck in the process: again all he saw was total darkness. He then quickly realized from the crack of sunlight in between the layers of black that he was being cradled in Toothless's large wings; the dragon insisted in pulling him in to sleep with him and keep him protected in case of any surprise attacks. The Night Fury's strong heartbeat, content purring, and fluctuating chest behind him were all reassurance that what he saw was only a nightmare. Toothless was alive and he was here.<p>

Hiccup still had to be absolutely sure, though, if for no other reason than to silence the nagging fear in his chest. He escaped Toothless's wings and crawled in front of both Toothless and little Alvis, who was still in the lean-to after being wrapped in all those blankets from last night, desperate to make sure that they were okay. To Hiccup's pure relief, they were both alright, still asleep and breathing quietly and perfectly. No arrows, axes, swords or daggers. No blood – it was all just a bad dream.

With a sigh of relief, Hiccup got up and kneeled over Alvis's makeshift bed, and raised a finger to tickle the baby's belly, causing him to stir and giggle again. _'What a sweet baby,'_ Hiccup though with a smile as he moved to tickle Alvis's little foot, making him giggle more loudly. _'And he loves giggling,' _Hiccup thought, and couldn't help but chuckle himself.

Then Hiccup heard a slight snorting sound, and turned to where it had come from. Toothless was awake and had his head raised slightly, giving a warm dragon's smile. _'Fondling the baby?'_ He seemed to ask in the form of a soft-sounding warble.

"Yeah, I'm a fondler, and proud of it," Hiccup said as he picked Alvis up from the bag and cradled him in his arms.

"Alvis," Hiccup said to the baby. "You, Toothless and I are all going to have so much fun. And you are going to do great things, I just know it!" The baby cooed as he looked at Hiccup with wide, innocent eyes, a smile forming on his little face and this miniscule hands reaching out to grab Hiccup's seemingly giant finger. "We can do whatever we want, I can show you blacksmithing so you can make all sorts of cool stuff, we can go dragon riding and I can show you how-"

Hiccup stopped in mid-sentence as an idea began to form in his mind. Dragon riding... the indescribable feeling of touching the very sky, the freedom and joy of no longer being bound to the harsh reality and the pain the world below seemed to bring. Flying with Toothless had released him from sorrow, and now it could be a treasured memory, the very first thing all three of them could do together as a family.

"Hey, Toothless," Hiccup said in a sly voice. "What do you say we show Alvis a good time..." The dragon flashed a smirk.

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><p>"This NEVER EVER gets old!" Hiccup screamed into the open air as he rode Toothless along the clouds.<p>

Alvis, tied securely into the safety harness along with Hiccup and held against the teen Viking, started giggling uncontrollably with glee. He may not remember this when he was older, but he was defiantly enjoying the ride. Toothless himself was also snickering – Hiccup may have forbidden him from doing any fancy aerial tricks, which Toothless was disappointed at because they both loved them so much, but he didn't say anything about flying high and flying fast. And for a dragon who lived to fly, that was enough.

_'We can find him his own dragon,' _Hiccup thought, as he looked down at the baby safely tucked in his arms. _'I can teach him how to ride it. He can be happy, and not have to live the life I lived back at Berk. We three are wild flowers now, and no one will ever bring us down again!'_

Hiccup's elated plans for the future were brought down as he considered the circumstances in which he found Alvis. He had to wonder who would abandon such a sweet baby alone in the woods, cold and hungry, for wolves to find and mutilate. Hiccup shook his head at an answer that in retrospect seemed pretty obvious popped into his head. _'Probably because he's small,' _he thought bitterly. Vikings hated anything that was small and weak – strength was a virtue, and if some part of their world couldn't uphold it, they tossed it aside. Really it was because after countless generations of burly warriors, a change in that was unheard of. Change itself was unheard of.

_Well, fine. If no one wants him, I'll keep him. He's my son now. And I will be a greater father to him than my father ever was to me. I will love and care for him, my child, and never abandon him. I-'_ Hiccup was shaken out of his thoughts immediately as a huge boulder came flying at them. Toothless roared in surprise and swerved away, missing the rock by inches due to his inability to make sharp turns.

"What the-?!" Hiccup was so startled that he nearly lost his grip on Toothless, who was frantically flapping in order to get his flight pattern back under control. Alvis, too naïve to understand what just happened, babbled in confusion.

"Night Fury!" A gruff voice yelled from below. "Kill it!" Another voice yelled. "Kill it before it kills us!" Hiccup looked down to the forest ground to see a group of men armed with catapults and swords and axes. It seems this island was inhabited by people after all. And it was obvious they didn't take kindly to dragons, especially his mysterious Night Fury. Then again, who did?

More boulders came flying at them launched from the catapults, some were even lit on fire to provide extra damage. Apparently Vikings never got the memo that dragon skin was fireproof, but the same couldn't be said for the two humans on the dragon. Alvis began to cry, scared from the sudden movements and the now flaming projectiles shot at them, one even managing to graze Hiccup in the arm, causing him to scream out in pain. For the most part, Toothless was able to dodge every one, but with the speed at which the rocks were launched, it had to be chalked up to sheer luck.

But their luck didn't last. Finally, one of the flying boulders managed to hit Toothless squarely in the stomach, and sent him spiraling out of control. The force of the impact caused the safety harness to snap, and Hiccup went flying off, with Alvis tightly gripped in his arms.

Hiccup tried to inch toward and get back onto Toothless, who was roaring in panic just as he did the last time during their first successful test flight, but he couldn't reach. So he instead held Alvis tighter, curling into a ball and squeezing the infant against him. After a long fall, Toothless finally hitting the ground, with Hiccup bouncing off of him and hitting his head against a nearby rock, the force of the impact threatening to knock him unconscious. After a short struggle to stay awake, he closed his eyes and knew nothing else.

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><p>Toothless was in a daze when he finally woke up; his vision was blurred all around him, everything was hazy, and his body hurt everywhere, especially in the stomach where he was hit with both a flying rock and a falling boy. The second he opened his eyes a sharp stinging sensation in his head caused him to wince and roar in pain – he was about ready to slip into unconsciousness. The Night Fury slowly opened his eyes again to take in their location; they had landed in another area of the woods on the opposite side of the island, far away from their camp site. Several trees were bent and broken from his fall, and a small dent had formed under his body from the impact; if not for the throbbing pain all over his body, he would have chucked at the irony of being in a similar situation as weeks before.<p>

Toothless' memory of the last few moments came back in a flash and his head flew up to check on his rider, lying just across from him. Hiccup was out cold; he had a horribly nasty gash on his forehead that looked deep and was bleeding heavily like a waterfall. He was breathing strangely and raggedly, a big breath followed by two little breaths, then a gasp and a big breath again. His coat and shirt were torn up from falling through the tree branches, and he had a large stain on the front of his shirt that looked suspiciously like more blood.

The sight caused Toothless to fill with intense worry; his beloved Hiccup was injured, possibly worse, all because he let his guard down during the flight and failed to protect him. He dragged himself across the ground until his head hovered over Hiccup and began to lick the wound on his rider's forehead to help stop the bleeding. Night Fury saliva had healing properties, and hopefully his would help cause the wound to seal up. Alvis, on the other hand, was pretty much alright for the most part. Hiccup had shielded him from the brunt of the fall, and the baby got away with only a bruise on his cheek.

'_At least one of you is okay,'_ Toothless growled.

But it didn't help that he was crying abnormally loudly, probably scared out of his wits from both the fall and for his new daddy's well-being, and Toothless had no idea what to do about it. He never had a hatchling before, heck, he'd never even had a mate, so he didn't know the first thing about being a parent. He was completely lost, shown from the panicked wince on his face as he looked around, obviously hoping someone else would come and quiet the child since Hiccup was in no condition to. When it was clear that he was on his own, he did the first thing he could think of and tried licking the baby's cheek and flashing his gummy smile, but nothing he tried worked – in fact, the baby didn't even seem to notice, he was crying so hard.

After a few minutes, however, Toothless ear flaps perked up as he heard something in the distance. The sound of numerous footsteps rushing closer, and they sounded threatening. Toothless quickly rolled over into his side in response and covered Hiccup and Alvis with his wings, but Alvis was still crying, wailing uncontrollably. If the baby kept crying, they'd find them. What if they tried to take him and Hiccup away? Toothless couldn't think like that – he had sworn to protect Hiccup at the cost of his life, and he would do it, him and his child.

_'Hey, baby,'_ Toothless growled softly, looking at Alvis with a firm but gentle look in his large eyes. The baby saw the dragon's face out of the corner of his eye, and slowly but surely, he calmed. '_You need to be quiet. Be a good boy and stay quiet so you don't get found. Do it for Daddy.'_

At first, Alvis just stared at the dragon, confused, but then he bobbed his head in what looked like a nod to show he understood. He still had tears streaking down his cheeks, worried for Hiccup who by now he had imprinted on as his father, but at the very least he wasn't crying anymore.

_'Hiccup was right,'_ Toothless said to himself. _'This hatchling is meant for great things if he can guess what I'm trying to say at such a young age.' _More noise snapped Toothless out of his thoughts; the footsteps were as loud as ever and banging on his eardrums and rattling his skull, a sensation doubled over thanks to the headache he was still suffering from. Ignoring the pain, Toothless did his best to cover up his human brother and his offspring; they were going to take them over his dead body.

Toothless took a peek outside his wings to see that he was surrounded: angry Vikings, at least thirty of them, were in every direction facing him, all huge and armed to the teeth with swords, axes, hammers, you name it, they had it.

One Viking stepped forward; Toothless figured that he was the leader of the pack. He was at least six-in-a-half feet tall, with a black beard tied into a single large braid near the end, and matching hair tied similarly underneath. He wore a traditional horned Viking helmet, and a beige brown tunic with metal shoulder plates; a wolf skin was tied to his waist over a studded belt, and in his hand was a huge, double-bladed axe that unnerved Toothless, even if he didn't show it. The chief was glaring slightly wide-eyed in shock at him, though not as evident as the other Vikings around him, whose eyeballs looked like they were about ready to pop out.

"Never seen anything like it," he mused as he examined Toothless with his eyes from head to tail; aside from Hiccup and Alvis, these men were the only ones to ever see a Night Fury up close, the black scales camouflaging it with the night sky Toothless would always fly through. The leader then took notice the leather straps on top of him. "Is that a saddle?"

"It's the Night Fury, sir!" Someone called from behind Toothless in fear. "Hairke, kill it now before it gets away!"

"Do it!" Someone else yelled. "This is the kill tribes'll go to war for! Take its head so we can hang it on the wall!"

Toothless tightened his wing around his humans – he knew there was a good chance he wouldn't survive as a Night Fury head was the ultimate prize for a Viking looking for glory. He didn't care, though; his rider and the baby he took as his own took priority over all else. _'What am I going to do?'_ Toothless thought in desperation. _'I'm only one dragon. I can't fight them all _and _protect my boy and his hatchling at the same time.'_

Most of the Vikings were yelling at the chief at this point, whose name was revealed to be Hairke judging from what the others were calling him, to do Toothless in and asking why he was hesitating. Forget about the saddle, a dragon is a dragon, and they kill dragons – it was the natural order! Hairke stepped forward, the first step immediately silencing the impatient Vikings, and raised his axe over Toothless' head once he got close.

The Vikings started emitting encouraging cheers. "That's it, go on, Hairke!" They said. "Chop that monster's head clean off!" Toothless detracted his teeth at this and growled viciously, the pain from earlier now completely forgotten. _'Chop my head off?' _Toothless mused, wrapping his legs around Hiccup and Alvis underneath in a protective embrace. _'If they so much as touch my boy and hatchling, I'll have _their_ heads off and crushed in my jaws!'_

One of the Vikings was stupid enough to try and grab him by one of his ear flaps, since their leader was smart enough to back off and lower his axe, but Toothless fought back and nearly bit the Vikings' hand off. Unfortunately, the sudden movement caused one of his wings to shift, revealing a bit of Hiccup's head. Even more unfortunate, Hairke's sharp eye had caught this.

"What are you hiding?" Hairke asked cautiously as he tilted his head and squinted his eyes to get a better view.

_'None of your business!' _Toothless expressed in a vehement roar, but the Hairke character didn't listen this time. He began to walk closer, moving slowly towards Toothless's closed up wings.

_'Get AWAY!'_ Toothless screeched and whipped his tail at Hairke's feet at lightning speed, tripping him and making him fall to the ground. But before Toothless could pull it back, Hairke sat up and grabbed the tail at the point just below his tailfins. He examined prosthetic tailfin , which now had three large holes in the fabric from the fall, confusion of an equally high level clearly etched across his face and everyone else'.

"What on Earth-?" One of the other Vikings wondered out loud as he and two others surrounded their leader. "Is this dragon some kind of _pet_?!" said another Viking, one with unkempt blond hair, short beard, ropes around his forearms and a sword, spitting out the last word in pure disgust.

That drove Toothless over the edge, his eyes turned into slits as sharp as a knife with read at the sides; he cared for Hiccup deeply, the boy was the world to him, and he was no longer able to fly without him, but that didn't mean he didn't still have his pride. He wings burst open as he released Hiccup and Alvis, and screeched and charged at the blond Viking, pinning him down to the ground and tearing open cuts in his enormous arms with his claws.

_'Now you listen here you dimwitted meat sack! I may let a human ride me,' _Toothless growled once more. _'And I may let him TREAT me like a pet. But I am NOBODY'S pet!'_

The blond Viking looked up in sheer terror that quickly turned to rage as he managed to get one of his arms free: the one with the sword, and slashed at Toothless, but Toothless bounded back, dodging the attack easily. He then made a sharp whistling sound that all the Vikings knew too well as they quickly stepped back in fear as he charged a plasma blast to blow that human into the next century. This plan was quickly halted when he saw Hairke approaching his rider and hatchling out of the corner of his eye.

_'Back OFF!'_ Toothless jumped in between Hairke and his human, roaring in warning to the apparently no-so-smart chief.

Hairke did not move away from the dragon and humans, but he didn't advance either. His face was completely unreadable – even Toothless with his higher intelligence couldn't tell what his next move would be.

_'They are MY humans! Get your own!'_

Hairke studied Toothless over for the longest time, constantly moving his gaze from the dragon to the boy and baby; Toothless suddenly got the feeling that he really wasn't as dumb as the others. He was very much like Hiccup in that regard – Hiccup was weak in body, but in mind, he his strength was unparalleled. Toothless supposed intelligence was a natural trait to have in a leader like Hairke, but he was still, in a lot of ways, a stupid Viking, and Toothless didn't like him one bit. _'Don't you have a village to be chiefing or something?!' _Toothless spat.

"Now, now, dragon," Hairke coaxed in a tone of voice suggesting he hardly believed what he was saying, sheathing his axe in his belt to the shock of the Vikings and holding his hands out in a submissive fashion. "Your... _friends…_ are hurt. Especially that one." He pointed to Hiccup, who was still bleeding. "Do you want him to die?"

_'NO!'_ Toothless hissed. _'But I don't want your grubby hands on him either!'_

Then there was a moaning sound; Toothless looked down so quickly he nearly snapped a bone in his neck. It was Hiccup, stirring in his comatose slumber, and he sounded like he was in a lot of pain, not that Toothless could blame him. Hiccup needed help that the dragon was unable to give, but he didn't trust these humans as far as he could blast fire at them.

Toothless tried nuzzling his boy with his snout in order to get him to stir and escape with him, but Hiccup remained knocked out, to Toothless' dismay. The dragon was let with a difficult choice: Protect his boy and hatchling, who would most likely die if he didn't let the humans help, or let the humans help even though they might just kill them all in the end anyway. Both options sounded pretty bad, Toothless thought, torn between love and distrust, but while Toothless was deciding, Hairke decided on his own that he would help. He was already walking around Toothless, kneeling down next to Hiccup; Toothless was jerked out of his thoughts by the Viking now in front of him.

_'You don't even _know _him,'_ Toothless growled. _'Why are you being so compassionate? He's not one of you…'_

Hairke ignored the dragon's growls as he brushed Hiccup's hair and was immediately drawn to the injury on the unconscious teenager's forehead. He turned back to his troops. "We need to get this kid to the Healer," Hairke declared. The Vikings turned to each other – they could see the boy needed help, as well as the terrified baby clearly in need of nourishment. But there was an obvious matter that needed addressing.

"What about the Night Fury?" One of the Vikings asked, pointing said issue out. Hairke's eyes narrowed knowing his men wouldn't like the answer. "We take the dragon with us, alive."

The Vikings shouted in protest. "Are you crazy!? We are NOT going to parade a dragon around the village!" The blond Viking who Toothless had previously pinned shouted.

"Well, the damned thing's not gonna just LEAVE this boy alone with us either!" Hairke yelled. "It's pretty clear it's gonna follow us no matter what we try to do. Do you wanna try and mess with a Night Fury yerself!?" Hairke's prediction was proven true ten seconds later, as Toothless quickly got up, his body already healed from his injuries, and did indeed follow them as they carried Hiccup to the village, Alvis in his limp arms, looking at the strange men.

_'I don't understand humans,'_ Toothless grumbled to himself as the group walked along the path through the forest.

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**This new chapter's pretty short, but still, enjoy it.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>The Night Fury was worried sick, pacing back and forth in front of the wooden home with grass roof. Hiccup was inside, and had been unconscious for a long time now, exactly how long, Toothless didn't know. For dragons, time is an inconsequential thing – their lifespans measure quite differently compared to the humans that they had been fighting for so long. All he knew is that the Viking who carried his boy into the house didn't allow him inside the home no matter how much he tried to force his way in – it took ten of their strongest men just to force him out the door. Toothless needed to protect Hiccup; by now that self-appointed duty had become purely instinctual, but in terms of pure logic, these Vikings were just as unwilling to trust him as he was them. Dragons and Vikings were mortal enemies – one dragonrider pair wasn't going to change that. So, though he immensely hated with a dragon-fiery passion that they were keeping from being by Hiccup's bedside, he settled for waiting outside on guard, making sure no one, absolutely no one went in and possibly hurt Hiccup any further.

The village they were in didn't look all that different from most others he had seen, wooden houses sprawled out like dots on the hills, lots of big weapons and even bigger Vikings, and animals roaming all around. The people and animals in question were freaked out of their wits when they saw a dragon walk into their village, and Hairke had to tell every person who charged up with a weapon in hand – which was pretty much every person in general – not to harm the dragon. The only person who didn't attack or even look surprised in the least was a little old lady with a long staff, whom Toothless assumed was some elder for the tribe, who gestured Hiccup over to the very house he was in now, her house, to inspect and treat his injuries. If Toothless had to guess at the old woman's unnatural calmness, it was almost like she was expecting something like this to happen eventually.

That Viking leader, Hairke, though, Toothless recalled; despite being somewhat rough, he was by far the kindest chief Toothless had ever faced, and he had faced a lot of chiefs in his day when he was still raiding villages providing aerial support for the other dragons. Sure, he wasn't 'Hiccup' kind, but it was something. But like before, Toothless had to remind himself that he was a Viking, and probably hadn't taken too kindly to the fact that a human had befriended one of his kind.

_'We're not staying long,'_ Toothless continued to growl to himself. _'As soon as Hiccup is well enough to get around on his own, I am taking him and the hatchling and getting us the HELL out of here!'_

Toothless tilted his ear towards the house. He could make out Hairke's voice and the healer's voice, mentioning Hiccup's current condition, and something about him, and the sound of shuffling and the clanging of bottles and jars. He could just barely hear Hiccup mumble in his sleep from time to time – a sure sign the boy was beginning to stir.

_'This is all my fault,'_ Toothless thought, punishing himself harshly. _'I should have been paying more attention to our surroundings. I should have done something to warn Hiccup. If I had just been a little more cautious, then Hiccup wouldn't have gotten hurt.'_

Toothless turned from his guilt trip and nuzzled baby Alvis softly, who was sitting right next to him, making the child giggle. Toothless may not have had a choice in the matter of leaving Hiccup in the care of these strangers, but he was not leaving Alvis alone with them. Besides, he was sure Hiccup would have wanted him to watch over the child in his absence.

"A daddy dragon, huh?" said a young voice, sounding almost feminine.

_'Oh no,'_ Toothless groaned. _'Not again.' _The dragon lifted his head from Alvis to see a teenage girl walking up to him and staring at him with her arms behind her back. She was pretty, Toothless figured, at least she was prettier than most of the Viking women he had seen in the past, who most times were just as large and hairy as the men, sometimes so much so he couldn't even tell they were women. She had tangled brown hair that was cut just above her shoulders. She was easily taller than Hiccup, but only by about two-in-a-half inches. She was small and thin like Hiccup, and even had a freckled face like his, but she was strong, also like Hiccup, Toothless could tell. She wore a simple pair of black pants, a simple blue, short-sleeved shirt, a dark gray, long sleeved fur coat with wrapped up sleeves, and classic brown Viking boots. She had a bow and quiver of arrows slung over her shoulder, and a big basket similar to the fish-filled ones Hiccup would always bring to the cove for him every day when they were back on Berk in one of her hands. She looked like a simpleton, but also dangerous.

Her weapons weren't what bothered Toothless; what really concerned him were her eyes, colored a dark shade of brown and contained an edge as sharp as an axe blade, which greatly unnerved Toothless.

He sniffed at her coat and then at her face; she didn't seem to mean any harm. Still, he wasn't taking any chances – for all he knew this was all some big trap and this girl had been sent here to dispose of him while the two adult Vikings took care of Hiccup inside. The Night Fury growled and bared his teeth at the girl, hoping she'd be smart and get lost.

But she was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid, because she started to advance. Slowly, like Hairke did earlier, she was still moving towards him, not stopping as the older Viking did. Okay, that settled it – this girl was stupid.

Toothless continued to growl and covered Alvis with his wing as the baby babbled in confusion, just to make sure she didn't get any ideas about using a baby as a hostage. However, what she did next surprised the Night Fury: the girl dropped both her bow and arrows to the ground, and raised her hands up nonthreateningly, just as Hairke did, to show she meant no harm. Toothless stared at her the instant she made the move with now slightly dilated but still slitted eyes and a cocked head.

Scratch that earlier judgment, it seemed she was brave, after all. In a response similar to his and Hiccup's first meaning, he swung his head while looking at the arrows on the ground, and the girl kicked her arrows aside, showing she understood. Toothless in turn toned down the glare and gave her the cute, fully dilated eye look he gave Hiccup when they first met and he was made to abandon his knife, leaving him with no defense against the dragon he was trusting not to kill him.

She chuckled and grinned at Toothless, then she carefully dragged the basket she had over. Toothless studied her movements carefully.

"I figured you'd be hungry, so I brought you something to eat." Then she turned the bag over on its side and numerous fish came pouring out, salmon, tuna, and Icelandic Cod. Thankfully, Toothless though, there was not a single eel in the bunch. Eels did crazy things to dragons when they ate them, and besides that just tasted awful, so dragons HATED them, a fact Hiccup had found out the hard way.

Toothless gave her a weird look – what was it with these people and being nice to dragons and strange boys falling out of the sky? If it was all an act, it was a pretty good and long one.

"Hey, waiting for an answer when someone who's close to me is hurt always leaves me beyond hungry," She said nonchalantly. It was almost as if she wasn't even talking to a dragon, or even knew she was. "'Course, that's a little backwards since most people can't think of eating when someone they care about is hurt cause they're all freaked and... Oh, never mind. Just eat."

_'This weird girl can't make up her mind,'_ Toothless mumbled. Not wanting to pass up a seemingly good meal, he slowly scooted over to the bag, sniffing it cautiously, just to make sure there was no hidden eels or traps that would tear off his snout if he got too close.

"The fishermen had a bunch of fish left over, so I figured I'd give them to you. Nothing special, really."

Toothless looked over at her; she was smiling cheerfully as if the dragon was some kind of cute, wooly sheep to play with.

"My name is Alta. Pleased to meet you." The girl said as she lowered one had and waved the other to say hello. Her smile then turned to a look of confusion. "What are you staring at?"

Was he staring? Toothless blinked and shook his head embarrassed. He then turned to the pile of fish on the ground and just started to eat, hoping in small part the girl would just go away. Her cheery attitude was really starting to creep Toothless out.

Alta smirked. "So you're the dragon everyone's fussing about? The Night Fury? I gotta say, this is just… totally awesome! No one's ever seen one of your kind before." Alta's people knew just as Berk did that the Night Fury was the rarest dragon in the world, due to its reclusive nature. The warning to 'hide and pray it doesn't find you' didn't help chances of sightings either.

_'What's with this girl?'_ Toothless wondered as he chewed on a cod fish without even looking back at her. _'She talks too much, and she's doesn't even flinch when I make eye contact with her. When Hiccup first met me, he was petrified, for good reason.'_

"I managed to eavesdrop on Dad and the healer's conversation from the window on the other side of the house," Alta said, a certain part of her statement causing Toothless to turn his attention back to the girl in surprise. Dad? Did she mean that Hairke man? She was his offspring? She certainly didn't show it – her carefree attitude and Hairke's cautious one being as different as night and day. "Your friend is gonna be okay, but he has a concussion and an injury in his chest."

_'Yeah, I noticed,' _Toothless growled, his eyes narrowing slightly in annoyance at her news that really didn't need a doctor to point out. _'But at least he's going to be alright.' __He sighed in relief._

While Toothless was eating, Alta, reaching into her coat, moved in toward Alvis, which Toothless managed to spot out of the corner of his eye as he swallowed another fish. Toothless turned in a flash and growled loudly as he tightened his wing around the baby, causing Alva to stop dead in her tracks. At that moment, Ata pulled out the thing she had hidden in her coat – a strange container with a pointed top, filled with some kind of milk: a baby bottle.

Toothless gave her a look of confusion. He'd never seen a baby bottle before. "Oh, come on!" Alta pushed. "That baby must be starving!" She gestured to Alvis, a small growl coming from the baby's stomach as he started to cry, confirming Alta's point. "And now that I think about it, why isn't he being checked out by the healer too? No offense, but the kid's seen better days, especially with that little boo-boo on his cheek!"

_'I am barely tolerating him taking care of Hiccup! Give me a break!' _Toothless quite literally barked.

Alta mimicked Toothless's speech, making weird barking noises similar to his with her arms at her hips in a mocking manner.

_'Oh, REAL mature,' _Toothless rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Hey, who ever said I was mature?" Alta asked, only guessing what Toothless wanted to say. The fact that she had actually managed to accurately do so surprising the black dragon again. It seemed this girl was full of surprises – rather like a female Hiccup.

"ALTA!" Someone roared. Both Toothless and Alta jumped in surprise before turning over to see who had shouted. In the commotion, Alta dropped the bottle to the ground, though luckily it was sealed tight to prevent the contents from spilling on the ground and costing Alvis a much-needed meal.

It was the blond Viking from earlier in the forest, the one Toothless knocked over. Next to him was another Viking, a boy about Alta's age. He had hair as red as fire, short and messy, arms only slightly larger than Hiccup's, a pumped chest with a necklace made of dragon fangs hanging upon it, a sleeveless tunic tucked into his gray pants held up by a belt, boar fur wristbands, and leather boots like Alta's. They both had just appeared from out of nowhere, rather uncharacteristic for humans, Toothless figured, especially ones as large and slow as Vikings, now standing just barely ten feet away from them. The blond man's facial expression was hard to read: it was a chaotic mix of rage, shock, fear and concern, with the last two tying for the win.

"Alta, whatever you do, don't move," he said slowly and cautiously, moving his hand behind his back to reach for his weapon. "Just stand perfectly still."

"Why?" Alta asked innocently, like she wasn't three feet from a dragon that could reduce her to a pile of ash in a second.

"Alta, just stand still, before that thing kills you," said the boy, anger clearly welling up in his voice.

_'I'm not a THING,'_ Toothless growled as he turned to the red-haired boy. Classic Viking arrogance and ignorance. He thanked the Gods that the seemingly natural trait skipped his unconscious rider altogether.

"Logo, Ruoy, he's nice," Alta said while laughing as if the two were crazy.

"It's a dragon!" The boy, who must have been Ruoy, yelled suddenly in anger as he full-on glared at the naïve girl, making Toothless apprehensive. "You know that dragons are vicious, destructive killers! They're always trying to do us in; they raid our food and rip us apart limb from limb! Do you want to experience that yourself!?"

Toothless glared at him, sick of all the accusations being pointed towards his kind just because the humans were too stubborn and selfish to look at the bigger picture. _'I'm so sick of you people calling us monsters!' __The dragon screeched, scaring the living daylights out of the two Viking males__. 'I kill you because I HAVE to! Don't push me to do it now!'_

Ruoy's little story was obviously meant to scare Alta into cooperating, but she did not look even the tiniest bit concerned – in fact she looked downright exasperated, crossing her arms like she'd heard this a million times. "Aw, shut up, Ruoy. You need to stop listening to those stupid stories from the other villagers – you know as well as I do they tell them just to spook us and whip up another batch of dragon killers every generation. Honestly, I think they're influencing you a little _too_ much."

_'I'm already liking this girl more and more.'_ Toothless purred with a smugly content look on his face as he looked to Alta, who turned to notice the sound before turning back to Ruoy.

"See?!" Alta gestured to Toothless's purring; obviously she didn't catch his sly look and figured he was just happy, which he was.

"Alta, your father is right inside," Logo threatened. "Don't make me go get him."

"Or _what_?!" Alta demanded. "He'll ground me for another month?!"

"What is _wrong_ with you!? Did Chief Hairke drop you on the head or something when you were a baby?" Ruoy yelled in pure aggravation. "You never listen to anyone, you're always wasting time with those stupid books of yours, you have the attention span of a squirrel... Your dad takes you on a fishing trip, and you go looking for _trolls_!"

"Trolls exist!" Logo shouted back at Ruoy, turning to face him and almost forgetting about Toothless for a second. "They steal your socks!" Then he muttered, "But only the left ones."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Alta asked.

"Don't change the subject!" Ruoy yelled loudly at Logo, then pushed him away harshly before returning his attention to the crazy girl in front of him. His lung-bursting volume reduced to an infuriated growl. "Just get. Away. From. That. DRAGON!" He ordered through clenched teeth.

"Go jump in a ditch, you butt-elf!" Alta yelled back, her volume as loud as Ruoy's had been earlier. "You're not the boss of me, or anyone else, so stop acting like you are!"

"If that thing eats you-"

"_He_ is _not_ a _thing_!" Alta barked, spitting in Ruoy's face as she let out the last word.

"-Don't come _cryin'_ to me, you useless girl!"

"If he really does eat me," Alta said. "Then I hope I come back as a ghost, so I can haunt you for the rest of your life, you big..." And with that Alta began yelling a rainbow of curses at Ruoy. By the time she was finished, Ruoy's jaw had nearly dropped to the ground in disbelief – never had he been so insulted in his life. Ruoy was something of a big-shot around the village here – a skilled warrior who could command authority from anyone, even older Vikings. He was a Viking prodigy, and there had been rumors going around that Hairke was going to pick him to be the next Chief, since Alta, aside from being a girl, was too airheaded and inattentive to do it. His shocked look turned to one of anger as he raised his clutched hands shakily before throwing them on the ground and crossing his arms over his chest, turning away to avoid looking at her.

Logo was already heading toward Alta to just pull her away, an extended arm reaching out to grab her wrist and pull her away from the now TWO things about ready to kill her where she stood. But Alta pulled back, and walked point-blank over to Toothless, picking up the bottle from the ground.

"May I please have the baby for a few minutes?" She asked calmly with all evidence of any previous anger she had shown to the Ruoy boy vanished. "He's probably very hungry and you don't have any hands to hold the bottle to feed him yourself."

Alvis babbled again in between his tears in his little baby language, probably something along the lines, 'Yes! Feed me!' His tiny tummy growled. He was a smart baby, Toothless figured; apparently intelligence was something that ran in their little family.

Once again, Toothless realized that he had no choice; he hated that it was always coming to that lately, having no alternative but to place their fates in the hands of complete strangers. But Alta had a good point, and besides, Toothless figured that trusting her was less dangerous than trusting some of the other people around here, present company included. With that, Toothless moved his wing out of the way and folded it back beside his large body, and Alta walked over to Alvis, picked him up and cradled him in the crook of her left arm, putting the bottle in his mouth, which he grabbed as he sucked on the top, drinking in the still warm yak milk inside. Toothless was watching the whole process, along with the girl herself, carefully – he wasn't about to completely trust her just yet.

"See now?" She asked Logo and Ruoy while her eyes remained focused on the baby. "The dragon didn't kill this baby, in fact, he protected it – that should prove he isn't evil."

Logo was shocked to hear the truth of the situation and see what was happening now, while Ruoy was still at the side, scowling heavily. Logo walked over next to Alta to take a close look at the baby, once again forgetting about the menacing Night Fury behind him.

"Eh, he is a cute little pipsqueak." Logo said, fawning over the little baby. "So what do you think a baby like this was doing with that boy we found in the woods, and what was the kid doing with a dragon for that matter?" He absentmindedly pointed his thumb back to Toothless.

"That, Logo, is something you'll have to take up with the boy when he wakes up." Alta said looking up to Logo as the baby finished his bottle. "But you shouldn't worry about doing that."

"Really? Why not?" Logo asked, confused. Even Ruoy raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he halfway turned to face the girl.

"Because I intend to ask him myself."

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow! And don't worry for those of you that are following 'Dragon's Hero,' chapter three is well on its way!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**For those of you who read the first one, you may notice something about this chapter. That's because in the original, this was two chapters. Here, I've converted them into one, hence the long length. Hope you guys like it.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>Slowly, and with surprising difficultly, Hiccup opened his eyes, only to see another pair of wide, bright green eyes staring at him. If it wasn't for his condition and that feeling of heaviness still plaguing him, Hiccup could have literally jumped out of his skin, he was not used to waking up with someone staring at him; then again, no one had ever really bothered to look his way at all. Taking a few moments to let his senses reorient themselves, his somewhat blurred eyesight sharpened, seeing the eyes on a black, scaly body, and his ears could pick up on quiet moans of concern. The clues soon came together in an instant as Hiccup realized just what, or rather who, he was looking at.<p>

"T-Toothless!" He cried out with pure relief as the Night Fury barked and cried out in a fit of joy at his riders' awakening. Toothless lifted up and lashed back his tail pinned on the Viking youth's stomach, and began hopping around Hiccup in excitement while wagging his tail, smiling his gummy smile and letting his tongue loll out like an innocent puppy. Hiccup was awake and alright, which meant they could play and fly together again; really, though, more than anything, Toothless was just glad that Hiccup was alright. He may have been thrilled at the thought of spreading his wings, but his protective instincts toward his rider would win out every time in the end.

Hiccup chuckled softly at the sight of his friend as he ran his fingers through his hair; the chuckling abruptly stopped as they felt the rough texture of cloth wrapped around his forehead. For some reason, he was wearing bandages, and after several moments of pondering why and what had happened to require them, his last few immediate memories before blacking out flashed back in an instant. Hiccup groaned as he silently cursed himself for being so stupid: of course he would need bandages, he and his dragon were shot out of the sky.

With the what and why figured out, all that was left to learn was where and how, Hiccup figured as he analyzed his surroundings. He was lying on the floor in a large bundle of straw, a fur blanket covering him and a pillow under his head. He was in a bare room with a door and window, a room not much bigger than his old one back at home. It seemed almost weak of him that the slightest aspect of his old home could make him so homesick. Hiccup had prided himself on those facts: no matter how badly he was treated, he never cried, no matter how tough things got, he never stopped facing forward. It was the only place where he didn't need the towering muscle inherent among his kind, the only way he could be strong, like a Viking was. Still, even Vikings would have to miss home after a long voyage on the rough seas – they may have been warriors and quick to deny any namby-pamby emotions, but they were still human.

Perhaps this was a mistake, Hiccup thought to himself. Perhaps… perhaps it wasn't too late to turn back and go home to Berk; he could tell his dad he was captured by pirates – a legitimate enough excuse given most of the circumstances of his disappearance. His dad may have been sharper than most Vikings, but even he wouldn't have thought anything of it. Just go back, hide Toothless back in the cove, and everything would go back to the way it used to be. The way it used to be…

Hiccup shook the thoughts all out of his head; who was he kidding? That way was the whole reason he left: the lies he told and the lies told and shown to him in turn. He knew what was real, what their true thoughts were, and he didn't like it. That place was no longer his home, he reasoned: a home was supposed to be safe and comforting, and he had to be on guard every second against everyone around him who could practically be considered enemies themselves. Besides, it's not like his father would buy into any lies he tried to sell – he'd left him a note for Thor's sake! Like it or not, there was no turning back.

All thoughts of _Berk_ aside, Hiccup still had no idea where he was. His eyes trailed to the door right in front of him past the curious dragon. If it was open he could escape from what might possibly be his makeshift prison; then again, with the thought of prisons, the door was probably locked. Hiccup tried to get up to find out, but a massive pain erupted in his chest the second he propped himself up on his elbows. He cried out loudly and Toothless gently forced him to lay back down with his head. The dragon's cooes could be obviously translated as 'take it easy.'

"Great, looks like we're stuck here," he grumbled. Toothless looked at Hiccup with an apologetic look on his face.

"It's okay, bud," Hiccup said, patting the Night Fury's nose. "It's not your fault. We had no way of knowing that there was a village on this island. Just our specialty-brand rotten luck."

Hiccup studied Toothless as he rubbed his snout. He was ill-at-ease to find that atop the tough black scales, the dragon had several bruises and scratches covering his body, and his prosthetic tail was practically ruined.

Hiccup was upset at the sight of the wrecked prosthetic and wondered how long it would take to fix it before turning his attention back to their present situation. He imagined they were quite a ways away from their original campsite and started thinking of ways to get out of the room and back there undetected. It was then that Hiccup realized while taking a sudden inventory of all the items he left back there that there was something missing. Hiccup's face suddenly went pale as he realized what it was.

"Alvis! Where's Alvis?!" He almost yelled, whipping his head around back and forth and scanning every corner of the room trying to find the child, ignoring the pain that travelled down his neck. Toothless started making growling and barking noises, trying to explain what happened while Hiccup was unconscious, but in his panicked state with his parental instincts in overdrive, Hiccup could not so much as guess what he was saying. Hiccup's eyes threatened to spill tears and his heart rate skyrocketed as he began to fear the worst for the poor baby; what if the people who shot them down hurt him? What if they left him behind in that forest filled with wild wolves and boars and dragons? What if he was dead?! As if on cue, there was loud talking from outside the door.

"Alta!" Said an enraged, slightly concerned, male voice muffled by the large wooden door. "I'm comin' in there with you, and that's final!"

"No, dad," said a much younger female voice, confident but slightly wavering in tone. "You'll only scare the kid and make things worse."

"I don' care!" Said the male voice. "It's the dragon I'm worried 'bout. You and I were prob'ly only lucky to have gotten on that dragon's good side. It seems harmless enough, but one wrong move, and ya could be dragon bait!"

"Even more reason for me to go in _alone_," Said the female voice. "Dad, face it. You're kind of scary looking. I look a lot less like a threat, and I'm already on its good side. The dragon is probably more likely to let me near the boy than you."

"Alta, I don' want my only daughter to be mauled by that dragon!" Said the male voice.

"What do you even care?! We both know you don't exactly hold me in the highest regard!" Said the female voice, who must have been Alta. "Now shut your trap, and open the door! I ain't getting any younger!"

There was a moment of tense silence, then were a few grunts, a grumbled 'thank you' and an audibly muttered 'we'll talk about this, later.' A loud clicking sound was heard, confirming Hiccup's earlier suspicion that the door was indeed locked but now wasn't, and the door opened. A girl walked in, carrying a tray in one hand, and a bundle full of blankets in the crook of her other arm. With some effort due to the handful, she immediately closed the door behind her using her foot. She was rather pretty, Hiccup had observed, even prettier than Astrid in an admittedly dorky kind of way. Her attire was pretty simple – she honestly didn't look like the type who could jump out the bed at the ready to maim a dragon like anyone else would. The fact that she came in unarmed also helped in lowering Hiccup's guard slightly.

Taking a closer look as she approached with the tray in hand, she didn't look like much. She seemed strong, but rather scrawny, like Hiccup. But she lifted her head and that's when he saw it: Her eyes... Hiccup's heart almost stopped in apprehension, a cold sweat quickly breaking. Her eyes were a deep brown, almost black. No doubt that was her scariest feature; there was just something so… bizarre, almost unnerving about them. They made Hiccup's skin crawl; it was like a warning signal, like she would drop the tray with a malicious sneer and pounce at any second with a concealed dagger from her jacket sleeve, even though she truthfully seem no stronger than him, if her overall shape was anything to go by. A mix of awe and fear filled him all at once as he couldn't even begin to think of a word to describe those eyes.

"Hi!" She said cheerfully, going against any foreboding sense that she or her eyes seemed to give off. "How are you feeling?"

"Uhh..." Hiccup droned, at a total loss for words. Aside from anything else, she was still pretty, and it wasn't every day that a girl like her talked to him all friendly-like, or even at all, and didn't look at him like he was a nuisance. Toothless backed away from the two: reality-wise he was the elephant, or dragon-in-the-room and wanted to give the two as much space as possible. For the most part, he figured the girl was okay, especially since she was bringing his boy food.

Alta didn't wait for an answer. She came up to Hiccup and set down the tray with a loaf of bread, some cheese, and a mug of water on it. Then she handed Hiccup the bundle of blankets, holding a lump of something that was inside rather firmly at the sides. "I believe this little cutie belongs to you," she said with a smile. Hiccup took the bundle and pulled back some of the sheets. Inside was little Alvis, just waking up from a nap and starting up at Hiccup with a soft, happy coo.

"Alvis! You're safe!" Hiccup exclaimed as he hugged his new son for all he was worth with all the strength his tiny frame could muster.

"Your brother?" She asked.

"Son, actually," Hiccup said as he turned his attention back to the girl somewhat, looking at her from the corner of his eye. Alta was momentarily confused, obviously surprised that a fourteen-year-old boy had a son and for a second wondered how something like that happened. She soon deemed it unimportant and so decided to ignore it as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Alta," she said. "What's your name?" Hiccup was taken aback somewhat at the girl's straightforward attitude.

For a split second, Hiccup was torn between telling her his actual name and just making up a name on the spot. For one thing, he still had no idea if this tribe was friendly; after all, it was pretty obvious that the men here were the ones that shot him down, and they could have been planning some horrendous public execution for him and Toothless. A flash of the terrible dream he had the night before came into his mind, of him in the dark dungeon with a dead Toothless and Alvis, and it made his blood run cold. On the other hand, he hated his name to no end. It was a label, a reminder to the world that he was a burden to everyone, and the fact that he was even alive today was some sheer stroke of dumb luck. If Hiccup could, he'd forget that name entirely, and everything that came with it.

But he decided that now was not a good time to start lying, lest he face a greater punishment for it down the line. As things stood, he was injured and his dragon was grounded, so trust was, at the moment, his only option. So, with some effort since he was still in pain, he strained to prop himself on his elbow without opening the wounds on his chest and took her hand. "Hiccup."

"Hiccup?" Alta asked as she shook his hand. "That's a strange name."

Hiccup knew what she was thinking – it was what anyone in her situation would have asked; _What parent names their child Hiccup?_

"Don't remind me," Hiccup tiredly said, taking his hand back and returning to his previous position.

Alta shrugged. "Eh, it's not my place to judge. So, uh, how are you feeling?" She scanned him over as she spoke. Obviously he still looked pretty banged-up, but just to be sure.

"Bad," Hiccup said point-blank with a quick breath, even wincing a bit.

Alta winced a little herself in guilt. "Yeah. Sorry that the villagers shot you and your... _dragon _down," she apologized as she turned to Toothless, who had walked back over and was sniffing Hiccup and gently nuzzling him. "But we suffer some pretty nasty raids around here, and it's not every day you get the chance to take down a _Night Fury_."

"Tell me about it," Hiccup stated, remembering the shot he fired with his bola contraption that fateful night that came to be the start of his first real friendship in years.

"Your dragon really cares about you," Alta said when Toothless continued to nuzzle and even lick Hiccup before coming down to sniff Alvis. "And your baby. I was probably just lucky that he realized that he had no choice but to let me help out a little."

Hiccup tried to get up once again, but the pain crashed like ocean waves throughout his chest, causing him to scream in pain which caused Toothless to jolt back and Alvis to start crying a bit. Alta had to help him into a sitting position up against the wall; he tried to squirm away as soon as Alvis calmed, but she wouldn't let him out of her grasp for a moment until she finally got his back propped up against the wood wall; an incredibly weird girl, Hiccup thought as he bounced Alvis in his arms to calm the child down, which he eventually did.

"Yeah, you're not going to be able to move around for a while. Not in this state." She confessed as she shook her head. Hiccup wasn't exactly happy with that diagnosis but ultimately had to agree; like it or not, they were going to be staying for a while.

Hiccup looked down to the blankets draped over him and said, "You're... really friendly." He didn't want to call her 'motherly' and get on her bad side so soon, even if it was a little closer to what Hiccup wanted to say. The truth was Alta actually reminded Hiccup of what Gobber told him of her mother: she was very kind, as opposed to most Vikings, but still had a certain kind of feistiness to her. As he understood, Valka was rather rebellious herself and was never afraid to speak her mind, but her caring nature still stood prominent over anything else.

Alta chuckled. "Yeah, and I get the feeling I'm the only one who would be. No one else is very nice most of the time, especially to me. I mean, a Viking's normal idea of friendship is to dislocate your shoulder with a good punch." Alta even took her fist and jabbed the air for example; the chuckling soon stopped and she looked down to her own knees covered by her coat.

"I don't even _know _you, and you're probably the nicest person I've met," she mumbled.

"Same here," Hiccup said, turning to face her. "You're one of the few people who has ever been intentionally nice to me." Alta looked back up to stare into his own eyes: they were a bright and vibrant forest green. Alta was nearly lost in them – it was as if those eyes held the essence of life itself in its purest form. There was power and majesty, the earth, the sea, and the infinite sky all merged into one great, almost-primordial form. She silently gaped for a few moments before a cough from Hiccup brought her back to reality.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," Alta started. "But why were you riding a dragon, and how, for that matter? I've never met anyone who's managed to even get close enough to actually get on one's back." She all but incredulously shouted with her arms flailing out for emphasis.

"It's a long story," Hiccup said.

"I have the time," Alta said.

"Well, before that, I have one question," Hiccup stated.

"What?"

"Who _are _you people? Where am I exactly?" He shouted as he leaned towards her, ignoring the discomfort as he did.

"Oh!" Alta said, returning to her feet and jumping in the air slightly. "Right, no one's told you. Well, you can just call us the Bone Head Tribe. Welcome to the Island of Draak!"

"Draak?" Hiccup questioned, tilting his head slightly as Toothless did when he got confused. The dragon in question mimicked the expression more visibly. "I've never heard of an island called Draak. Or the 'Bone Head' Tribe."

"Does it matter?" Alta asked. "We fight, we sail around, we get attacked by dragons, we drink mead until the yaks come home. We're pretty much your average Viking tribe, 'cept for our name." She shook her head at this last part – it was always mortifying for her to hear her tribe's name spoken, especially when she and her father were visiting other tribes around the archipelago, for obvious reasons. "I mean, really, 'Bone Head Tribe'? I'd like to meet the guy who actually had the lapse in shame to saddle us with a ridiculous name like that. Sure, we're a little ignorant, but we're not boneheads, at least no more than any other tribe." Hiccup chuckled at her little joke.

"Okay. So, like I asked before, how were you riding a dragon?" Alta asked, getting down on her knees and pressing her face up to his at lightning speed, excited in no small part to hear the mysterious boy's story. "No, actually, scratch that. Why did he let you ride him?"

"You're a curious girl, aren't you?" Hiccup said. It was technically a question, but his tone made it sound like a statement.

"I have to be," Alta pointed out, shrugging again. "Everyone else is wondering why, but no one wants to get close enough to you and your dragon to ask."

Hiccup smiled as he reached out his free hand to pat his faithful companion on the snout, making him purr in contentment. "His name's Toothless."

Alta was perplexed at the name, thinking it a misnomer for a moment. "Toothless? I know I saw-" Toothless looked over at her and mimicked a smile. His teeth weren't there. "Teeth... on that... dragon..." Alta's voice faltered in surprise. "How-how did he...?"

"I don't know," Hiccup admitted. "I guess it's just something Night Fury's do." At that moment, his teeth reappeared, making Alta jump back in surprise. Hiccup and Toothless both chuckled at her priceless expression, and even Alvis giggled a bit.

Alta pouted for a bit at their laughing at her expense, but soon smiled. For a long moment, her eyes lit up and they didn't look as unnerving as before. "So are you gonna tell me about riding Toothless or what?" She asked as she crossed her arms in expectation.

"Gee, Alta. I don't even know where to start," Hiccup sighed.

"How about when you first got him."

"All right then, here goes." And with that, Hiccup began to talk; actually, it was more like rambling. Hiccup guessed that he was so glad to tell someone about Toothless and finally get the secret off his chest that he started to blab to no end. He started from the beginning, from how he shot down Toothless, to how he found him in the woods and bonded with him in the cove, to how he made his tail, to how he learned tricks and dragons that had never been known before, to how he used that in Dragon Training. Though he had taken a few bites of the food at first, the tray Alta brought and all its contents were soon forgotten as the story went on. Alvis had fallen asleep on Hiccup's lap, while Toothless, curled around his rider, listened to the story closely.

Despite only knowing Alta for a short amount of time, Hiccup found himself very comfortable around her, his feelings of caution slowly dissipating as he continued with his story and she listened intently with a look of pure wonder on her face. Her unusually compassionate nature made it very clear: she was different, different from every other Viking. Like him.

"Wow..." Alta was mesmerized by Hiccup's adventure by the time he had finished with how he managed to become the local celebrity, going from having nothing to having everything. "Amazing. And you managed to hide this from everyone in your village? Um, where are you from, again?"

"Berk," Hiccup admitted. "And it wasn't hard at first. Sure, a few people-" Namely Astrid, Hiccup thought momentarily. "-wondered how I got so good, where I was learning these things – I mean, the village runt going to placing first in Training overnight? I'm pretty sure I got some heads spinning there, but by some miracle, I was able to keep Toothless safe, despite a few close calls." Hiccup patted Toothless' forehead. Toothless closed his eyes and warbled happily – he was proud of his friend, no matter what anyone would say, and hearing of his cleverness in the ring only reinforced that feeling.

"...But I'm guessing things didn't last?" Alta asked quietly.

"Yep," Hiccup said, his voice barely a whisper.

"What happened? It must have been something very upsetting for you to have ended up here."

Hiccup sighed. "Things started going downhill when my father came back from one of his voyages."

"Your father?"

"Stoick the Vast," Hiccup said, mimicking a deep voice and puffing out his chest while flexing his arms to make him look as Stoick-sized as possible. "'Oh, Hear-His-Name-And-Tremble!" Alta laughed at that. "He's the chief," Hiccup explained. "When he found out how well I was doing in Dragon Training, he… uh… well, he was happy. He was… proud." Hiccup said half-heartedly, remembering the whole conversation word-for-word. For what was supposed to be pride, Stoick had made it sound quite like the most painful mockery he had ever heard in his life.

"But, unfortunately, thanks to what I learned from Toothless," Hiccup continued. "I was chosen for the final match. And, I… well, uh…" His voice trailed off. He was coming to the very thing he didn't want to talk about. He had deliberately hid it from Toothless, afraid of how he would react. Now he was about to blurt it out to some girl he just met. As much as it hurt, the only thing that could keep him in the clear was to once again conceal the truth.

"Well, what? I mean, if your dad was finally proud of you, what was the problem?" Alta asked.

"Ugh, well, I'd just... I mean I-I got tired of it. I guess his recognition wasn't all that important to me anymore. I mean I had a real friend who'd go with me anywhere, so I figured, why not just go?"

"So... you ran away? Huh, well, I guess I would've done the same thing if I was in your position." Alta guessed; she suspected that Hiccup was hiding one crucial fact out of his story but left it alone since she figured he might not want to talk about it. Toothless, on the other hand, was just as suspicious, although worried might have been a better word. Hiccup didn't have to keep secrets with him, especially if it regarded some dark aspect of his past; they were past any kind of original prejudice or suspicion and were now closer than even brothers, so Toothless would understand – the dragon just stared at Hiccup as if trying to convey this message.

"It doesn't matter. No one actually cared about me in the first place." Hiccup muttered darkly. Toothless narrowed his eyes – it seemed his guess was right on the mark.

"What?" Alta asked.

"Uh... Enough about me," Hiccup stuttered, catching himself as he was about to let loose some rather complicated and long-buried teenage angst that he was pretty sure he didn't want Alta to see. "What about you, Alta? While I'm the one spilling my guts to a person I don't even know, you haven't said very much about yourself."

Alta looked down. "Well..." Hiccup waited patiently. "Like you, Hiccup, I'm the child of the chief. My full name is Alta Walker Skulason the Second, as embarrassing as that is to say in public."

"Better than my full name," Hiccup said.

"Why? What's your full name?"

"I'll tell you later."

Alta sighed. "I've always been different from everyone else. I can argue in circles for hours on end, but I can't physically fight very well. From day one, everyone just liked to pick on me. They treat me like I'm stupid, they talk slowly like I can't understand them, and they say hurtful things all the time. Like, earlier today. I was trying to get close to Toothless here so I could feed Alvis, and these two guys I know just started yelling at me, saying I was dumb enough to let myself be dragon feed. Someone needs to put Ruoy in his place." Alta mumbled the last sentence. "And me and my dad don't exactly have the _best _relationship. I'm surprised I didn't run away a long time ago."

"Not to be rude," Hiccup apologized early. "But I ran away. Why do you think you didn't?"

Surprisingly, Alta took no offense, she just continued talking. "I don't know. Maybe because I just got used to it, or because I can give them an earful if they say something they should know they'll regret. You know, I can get though a lot of unpleasant things. Everyone just thinks I'm useless because I'm something of a dreamer – they always say I've got my head in the clouds or that I'm too 'airheaded' to be of any value. And, to add to the ridicule, I refuse to kill dragons."

"Refuse?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, yeah! I mean look at them!" Alta exclaimed, looking at Toothless, who jolted his head up. "They're so amazing, so mysterious, why should we hurt them?"

"Don't they raid your village?" Hiccup couldn't help but ask. Fishlegs though somewhere along the lines of Alta, wanting to study dragons more than kill them. When all was said and done though, all he picked up were more battle statistics, clear proof that he thought just the same as everyone else.

"Yes, but- Look, the point is, dragons are cool. Imagine how much we could learn by interacting with them."

"Eh, I know what you mean," Hiccup admitted. He couldn't really argue with Alta, not after learning so much from Toothless, who was now licking Alvis's cheek and suddenly coming up to nuzzle his.

"I just see the world differently than everyone else," Alta said. "Is that so wrong?"

"No, no, there's nothing wrong with that. I know exactly how you feel. You should see how they treat me back on-"

**_THUMP!_****_  
><em>**  
>"Eh?" Hiccup stopped talking at the sound of a thumping noise coming from the door, like something fell over outside. Alta went silent and Toothless's ears perked up, the girl slowly getting up and making her way to the door, pressing her ear against the wood. Though the silence, Hiccup could hear hushed whispers, which to Alta sounded all too familiar.<p>

"Why of all the rotten…" Alta growled quietly. She stealthily tiptoed behind the door and grabbed the metal handle; fast as a viper, she yanked the door open. Two boys fell in and dropped onto the ground one on top of the other. They both looked around the same age, maybe fourteen, the same as Hiccup and Alta themselves. One of them was pretty large, about as large as Fishlegs but not quite; he had a helmet that covered his head and metal shoulder pads over a simple thin leather sleeveless tunic. The other with red hair, a dragon fang necklace, a sword on his back, and looked incredibly irritated. Toothless quickly growled and curled around Hiccup protectively – he remembered the second boy from earlier, and his attire and foul attitude just screamed 'threat.'

"I can't believe even you two idiots would stoop so low!" Alta yelled.

"Your dad made us!" Yelled the big one with the shoulder pads.

"I don't care!" Alta shouted. "Don't you two have better things to do than _spying _on people?!"

"Hey, if it wasn't for us, you would have been killed by dragons long ago! You should be down on your knees kissing my boots in gratitude!" Shouted the irritated looking one.

"Get a life, Ruoy! Don't think you'll get that lucky, even if your boots are the only part of you even remotely kissable!" She shouted, her eyes flaming murderously, but his only reaction was to scoff and even spit a bit at her, which only made her even angrier. "What is _wrong_ with you, you jerk?!" She screamed as she wiped the spit away.

That got his attention – his eyes widened incredulously. "What's wrong with me?" Ruoy repeated. "What's wrong with _me_?! What's wrong with _you_?!"

He walked towards Hiccup and Toothless in a threatening manner, even beginning to pull out his sword as he stalked forward. Alta jumped in front of them, but Ruoy pushed her aside, knocking her to the floor and eliciting an even angrier snarl from Toothless. The other guy grabbed her by the shoulders and held her against his chest, effectively pinning her.

"Stupid girl! You're already trusting this scrawny kid and this dragon!" He yelled as he pointed his sword at Hiccup and Toothless while turning to face Alta. "And you're wondering what's wrong with _me_?! They could be spies from another tribe, or-"

Toothless had had all he could stand of Ruoy at this point and let his defensive instincts took over. The dragon leaped in front him but not enough to leave Hiccup's side, baring his fangs and scraping his claws across the floor.

"One step closer to Hiccup and you're Night Fury chow!" Alta exclaimed. "And _I'm_ the stupid one?! What tribe would send a scrawny kid like him to spy?! No offense Hiccup." She quickly apologized, to which Hiccup raised a hand to say 'no big deal.' "Even _with _a dragon?! I mean, what kind of idiot-"

"Be quiet!" Ruoy shouted.

"You've got a big mouth for a small girl," said the other guy.

"_Shut up_, Niart," Alta said_. _The other boy's name seemed very strange to Hiccup, sounding like _Knee-Art_. Of course, who was he to talk, considering his own name?  
><em><br>_"Maybe you sh_o_uld take your own advice!" Niart retaliated, before his face contorted into a weird expression as he felt a sudden force knock all the air out of his chest, and his grip on Alta loosened enough for her to get away. He wrapped his arms around his now aching gut. Apparently Alta had elbowed him in the ribs, and pretty hard too.

"You little brat!" Ruoy turned away from Hiccup and Toothless in favor for Alta and viciously tackled her, pinning her to the floor.

"Get _off _of me, you ogre!" Alta wailed, struggling to break free of Ruoy's grip. "You're worse than the dragons!"

"For the first time ever, you may be right, nut-brain!" Ruoy taunted as he tightened his hold on her, even putting his knee on her chest to pin her down further. "Cause what that dragon might have done'll be nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you!"

All the yelling woke up Alvis, who was now crying loudly. Toothless jumped away completely and started barking and screeching while snapping his teeth at Ruoy while whipping his tail on his back. Niart started yelling from in front of Alta, insulting her even more and backing up whatever nasty insults Ruoy might have had, and all Hiccup could do was stare.

At that moment someone else walked in, loudly asking what all the screaming about. He was a large man, about as tall as his father. Hiccup guessed by the familiar tone of his voice that this man was who Alta was talking to earlier: that, combined with the air of authority he gave off, made it clear that this was the chief of the island.

"_What _is going _on_ in here?!" He yelled in a booming voice.

"Dad, get him _off_ me, before I ring his neck!" Alta shouted at Ruoy and even tried to lift her arms to follow through on her threat.

"Good luck with that!" Ruoy countered before lifting his head to face the chief. "Hairke, just let me give this mouthy migraine one good punch! We both know she's had it coming for a long time!"

"Get off her!" Alta's father shouted, before a horrifying shriek turned his attention to Toothless, who looked ready to rip Ruoy to pieces.

While Alta's father grabbed Toothless by the tail and pry him away from the two fighting teens, Niart tried to separate the two in question, even stopping his rain of insults just to tell Ruoy to get off, but to no avail. In the midst of it all, Hiccup had been completely forgotten; he just sat there on the floor like an idiot, completely silent, with no clue what to do as the chaos continued before him with no visible end in sight.

Hiccup clenched his fist and gripped the sheets on top of him in anger; he was really starting to hate this Ruoy person. He reminded Hiccup of Snotlout, from the pompous attitude to the way he just yelled every sentence like he was the boss of everyone. It was exactly as Alta called: Ruoy was a total jerk, and his atrocious behavior called back dark memories of how his pitiful excuse for family treated him as no such thing, torturing him every day of his life since they were five years old. He remembered how hurt he'd been one day in particular, when Snotlout told him of his name's true meaning: he said that 'Hiccup' meant 'accident,' a name given to the runt of any litter, and how it meant everyone, even his father, considered that he should never have been born. He remembered crying as he ran into the woods as Snotlout's cruel, arrogant laughter followed him all the way.

No way would Hiccup just let that guy hurt Alta; she was his first - and only - human friend that he had had in a _long _time, and frankly, no one deserved the suffering that he had gone through, that people considered a favor to him so he would eventually cast aside his stupid interests and hobbies and finally start accomplishing things that were important. Either that or they just didn't really want to care. His mind was made up. With some difficulty due to still being in pain, Hiccup stood up, leaning against the wall with both his hands, quickly growing dizzy from his movement as he wobbled on his feet. Gathering every spare breath he could in his tiny lungs and looking as in-charge as possible, Hiccup screamed until his face turned beet-red with a voice that could have only been inherited from his father: "OKAY! EVERYBODY, JUST SHUT UP!"

His voice echoed through the walls of the wooden hut as the shambolic scene before him practically froze in time. Ruoy and Alta had stopped wrestling, Niart had his hands on Ruoy's shoulders but stopped trying to pull them apart, Toothless stopped swatting Luis, and Alta's father stopped trying to get Toothless away while his hands were still gripping Toothless' tail. Even Alvis had silenced his crying, but was still whimpering – the only sound that could be heard in the whole room. Everyone was silent as death, and everyone was staring at him with pure shock on their face. Hiccup was not used to getting attention like this and in any other situation he would have cowered and shrunk back at the fact that all eyes and ears were on him now, but he was irritated as Hel, even more than Ruoy when he first came in – too much so to even care.

"_Thank you_!" Hiccup shouted aggravatingly.

More staring, even flinching from the two boys and Toothless. Alta's father just continued to stare, more in surprise and interest than the slight amount of fear in everyone else.

"Okay, this is incredibly stupid!" Hiccup yelled, waving an arm in exasperation. "Have you people ever tried _talking _things out?!" No one said anything.

"Alta's father, whatever your name is, let go of my dragon!" Hiccup instructed. "Toothless, come here."

Toothless trudged over quickly until he was right by Hiccup's side with his head bowed and his tail literally between his legs, looking up with Hiccup with a slight amount of fear. He had never heard Hiccup speak with such command in his voice before and quite frankly, it wiped away any feeling of self-pride and somewhat forced Toothless to look at Hiccup like he was his 'master.' "Niart, let go of them. Ruoy, get off of Alta. Alta, get up."

The others did as they were told, and soon the three tens were standing in a single neat row like their chief had just spoken during the heat of battle.

"Good," Hiccup said, nodding his head with a stern expression on his face which quickly evolved into one of anger. "You people are worse than the rock-heads back where I'm from when it comes to resolving arguments. And with those guys, nothing's settled unless weapons are involved."

On Berk, his father had always said there were only three options when dealing with Vikings who were having trouble cooperating. One was to give them both hammers and let them fight to the death, the second was pretty much the same, but with maces – yeah, that was original. The third option was less permanent, but more devious: trick them into working together. It was just another of the many things Hiccup hated his people for: if he could say sorry as many times as he did, then surely it wasn't a foreign concept for anyone else. Apparently, though, the word was like bile to them and any use of option three would just cause a greater argument. No resolution was ever made until someone was beaten bloody – Hiccup was glad deep down that wasn't the case here.

He turned to Alta and pointed a finger at her. "Okay, Alta, I understand that you were mad, but you had no real right to yell at Ruoy."

"HA!" Ruoy gloated while Alta just looked guilty.

"And Ruoy," Hiccup continued. "You had _no _right to attack someone who can't defend themselves. And a _girl_, no less! Does every problem have to be resolved with _violence_?! I know you're Vikings, but come on! This is ridiculous!"

Alta looked down with an even guiltier expression on his face. Ruoy crossed his arms and looked away with an audible 'humph', acting like he didn't care, but the squinting eyes and the quivering lower lip was proof he was uncomfortable with being scolded like a child. Niart stood in the same spot, not saying anything, instead just pressing his fingers and closing in on himself making him seem as small as possible.

Alta's father studied Hiccup, clearly surprised that a scrawny fourteen-year-old was telling them off.

Something about his look made Hiccup wary as the boy turned to him, and his confidence all but plummeted. He had just shouted at this man's daughter and his people like he was the chief, and Hiccup instantly stated to go back in time in his mind and wonder if there might have been a better way to handle the situation. However, Alta's father was not angered at all; in fact, he was downright impressed. Without a doubt, he had things planned for Hiccup.

* * *

><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Another two chapters rolled into one. Stay at the ready, cause the good stuff's coming soon.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

* * *

><p>Hiccup continued to stare in anxiety at the large man and cowering slightly at his emotionless gaze. His legs were wobbling even more and his breaths were becoming rapid. Suddenly, he found his hands had lost all their traction and he slipped to the floor, but stood back up like a shot with one arm back on the wall. Toothless noticed this and stood in front of Hiccup, ignoring his earlier submissive feelings towards his boy in favor of his familiar protectiveness. He stared at the man in front of them cautiously, eyes turned to slits signaling that he was ready to make a move at a moment's notice. Hopefully this time, the man would heed his wordless warnings.<p>

"Hairke," Ruoy said cautiously, his head turned to look at the large man. "Why do you have that look on your face?"

"Father?" Alta asked, confused.

But Hairke didn't say anything, he just continued to stare at Hiccup: his pupils moved up and down in an analytical manner. Toothless's muscles tensed and he scooted closer to Hiccup, his tail slightly wrapped around him and Alvis, who was now tired from all his crying and whimpering and had fallen into an uneasy sleep, laying in the blankets Hiccup had been resting in. Hiccup soon abandoned the walls for support and placed his unsteady hands on Toothless' head, breathing in both exhaustion from his exertion despite his worn and injured body and his growing dread.

Hairke approached Hiccup slowly, probably because of Toothless, who was still watching him like a hawk, until he had finally stopped just a few inches away from the boy and his draconic guard. Hairke leaned towards the boy until they were near face to face. "Who _are _you, boy?" He asked. He spoke quietly but with enough force to ease the tension in the boy's shoulders or alter his freaked-out face in the least.

"Uh, uh, da… um" Hiccup stuttered. This man towered over him as his father did, and with that thought Hiccup instantly deemed any kind of false response to cover his identity futile. Toothless narrowed his eyes as he let loose a small growl, obviously unhappy that this man was scaring his boy so.

Alta walked up to Hiccup's side and subconsciously grabbed his arm to soothe his nerves, instantly turning the boy's attention to her. "This is Hiccup, Dad," she said. "He's from Berk."

"He can answer himself," Ruoy said with a look and stance that Hiccup saw as the spitting image of Snotlout. "Seriously Alta, why don't you shut your mouth?"

"Seriously Ruoy, why don't I bust your face?" Alta said, mimicking Ruoy's narrowed eyes while angrily raising her fist. Hiccup gave her a look that was a whole lecture in itself.

"_What_?" Alta asked incredulously.

"Alta, please," Hairke begged.

"Um, who are _you _exactly?" Hiccup asked, not entirely sure. He knew that his was Alta's father, as pure fact considering she had called him that. Regarding his other suspicion, though, he could only guess, though the man's answer confirmed his thought.

"My name is Hairke," he said. "I am chief of the Bone Head Tribe."

* * *

><p>After a long and incredibly awkward conversation about why Hiccup was on Draak with a dragon as a steed with Alta's father, Hairke the Maximus, which included no shortage of small arguments between Alta and Ruoy, Alta moved Hiccup over to hers and let him sleep in her room. Alta was pretty sure, which was more than could be said for any of the other Bone Heads, that Hiccup meant no harm and was trustworthy, and there was no way she was going to let him sleep in the healer's house alone where anyone, Ruoy especially, could attack him or Toothless out of fearful hostility. At least if she witnessed anyone hurting him while he was with her, she had some authority to order them imprisoned andor executed, even though everyone knew she would change her mind at the last minute as she always did. Besides, it was her tribe who shot him down and injured him and his companions; she figured this was the easiest way to say sorry.

Hiccup, uncomfortable with the idea of sleeping in someone else's bed, especially a girl's and the one who'd been so kind to him, slept on the floor with the same pillow and blanket from before. Alvis slept in a small pile of blankets nearby in some of the hay that had been brought over from the healer's house. Toothless, meanwhile, was asleep outside on the porch: Alta was pretty sure that her father wouldn't want a dragon - a Night Fury, no less - to be inside the house and, to be honest, she wasn't exactly on board with it either. Although opposed to her father's dread that Toothless would kill the two of them in their sleep in a rather graphic manner, Alta herself was just worried he might break something. At first, Toothless wouldn't have it; he was already on edge when Hiccup was unconscious, and the fact that he was going to be akin to a prisoner inside the house of the island's chief drove the dragon mad with concern. So Alta had to have Hiccup reassure Toothless as he was clawing and banging at the door to get inside that he would be fine. Toothless eventually settled down and agreed to their conditions, but made sure to stay directly below the window to Alta's room in case anything happened; Alta had brought him a blanket however, so at least he would be comfortable.

Alta was getting ready for bed. Hiccup was already asleep and Alvis was quietly babbling in his baby language clearly saying that he wasn't ready to follow his father's lead. She was changing into her pajamas after getting a warmed bottle for yak milk to put the baby to sleep and getting ready to turn in for the night when she heard voices downstairs. Wearing nothing but black baggy pajama pants and a grey tank top and no shoes, Alta quietly crept her way out of her room and hid at the top of the steps, listening.

One of the voices was obviously her father, and as always, he sounded serious. Alta guessed that the other person was Logo, the Viking who along with Ruoy told her to get away from Toothless when they were outside earlier – thinking about it, he was probably the one who called for her father to come to the hut since at the time he was halfway across the village. He was her father's best friend and the village's resident blacksmith. He did care for Alta, but sometimes it seemed the man trusted her just as little as everyone else.

"-What do you make of it, Hairke?" Logo was saying.

Hairke sighed. "I don' know, Logo. He seems ta be tellin' the truth, but with that dragon, 'm honestly not sure."

Surprise, surprise, Alta thought. Her father did whatever he could to protect her and the village, but he could be a bit of an air-head sometimes, no matter how tough he acted, most times too blind to see what was right in front of him. Like all Vikings he was stubborn in that regard, but Alta called it just plain stupidity.

"I doubt that it's an invasion," Hairke continued. "What village would sent such a scrap of a boy to spy, even with a dragon?"

'That's exactly what I said!' Alta thought slapping her head.

"But Berk..." Her father's voice soon trailed off. Alta could hear a quiet 'hmm' – his father always made that sound when he was thinking of something.

"I've never heard of this 'Berk' before. Might've glanced at it a time ago one of our maps, but other than that, got no clue." Logo confessed. "Ya know it?"

"All too well, 'm 'fraid," Hairke admitted. "The boy – Hiccup – explained earlier that his father's name is Stoick. Used ta know a man called Stoick the Vast a long time ago, the chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe. We met some time ago during one of the Things between the chieftains on the isle of the Meathead Tribe. He was… an old friend."

Alta's eyes widened in surprise – who would have guessed that his father and Hiccup's knew each other at some point? But if he knew, then why didn't he say anything earlier? Had he somehow figured out that Hiccup had run away from home and was purposefully keeping quiet?

"What happened between you two?" Logo asked cautiously.

"Eh, we just grew apart. His wife was gonna have a kid, and I was gettin' married myself, so our tribes just lost touch. Last I heard, his wife'd been snatched and gobbled up by a dragon during one of the raids." Alta gasped at the news: Hiccup's mother was eaten by dragons. She didn't think they ate people at all since Draak never lost people as opposed to Berk. To think Hiccup would make friends with the very creature that tore his family apart – guess it just proved how big of a person he was.

"So are you gonna send the kid back?" Logo questioned.

"I don't know, Logo," Hairke sighed. "I feel like I should, but he says he ran away. I think we can both guess why." There was a short silence; Alta guessed that her father was gesturing to the porch where Toothless was.

"The dragon?" Logo asked.

"Exactly," Hairke said the sound of footsteps going back and forth suggested to Alta that he was pacing around the floor. "Berk suffers from dragon raids just as we do. If they found out the boy had turned on them in favor of a dragon, they could've had him exiled, or worse." There was no doubt in the minds of any of them that this was true; despite Alta's admiration of dragons, it didn't change the countless years of evidence that they were dangerous. To fraternize with and befriend a dragon would be considered nothing short of the ultimate treason. To be a dragon sympathizer, a person may as well have not been human, and punishments for such people were not light. One such came to Alta's mind: the Blood Eagle, and it made her shiver with fear and disgust in remembrance of those who had faced it. In short, it wasn't pretty.

"I don' blame the boy," Logo pointed out. "But are ya really gonna let a dragon roam the village like a pet? The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself?" Alta couldn't help but feel the shudder down her spine as she heard the ominous nickname of the dreaded Night Fury. Though she had seen a gentler, loving side to it, it was nonetheless still the embodiment of the nightmares of generations of Vikings, and had the power and ferocity to match.

"To be honest, I've had this idea naggin' at the back of my mind on what ta do with the boy and dragon ever since he broke up the fight 'tween the Ruoy boy and Alta, but 'm not sure."

"Well, don' keep me in suspense, man, what is it?" Logo asked.

"Yes, Father, what _is _your idea?" called Alta from atop the stairs as the two Viking men turned their heads to the source of the voice, seeing her coming down the stairs, revealing that she was listening.

"Alta! I thought ya were asleep!" Haike exclaimed. Alta was a heavy sleeper, but she would have heard their conversation either way. A Viking's idea of whispering was about as loud as Hiccup's normal speaking volume – who could sleep through that? "How much did you hear?" Hairke asked.

"Enough," Alta said. "What is this idea you have?" She asked again, crossing her arms.

Alta figured if fourteen years of living under the same roof as her was any hint that her father knew well and good that she was not going to bed without an answer. Hairke groaned and said, "If you must know, Alta-"

"And I do," Alta interrupted before shutting up.

"-I believe that havin' the boy could be beneficial for the island."

"He has a name, you know," Alta pointed out, leaning against the railing. "Hiccup. And what do you mean?"

Hairke scratched his bearded chin and said, "I was thinkin' that we could have the boy's talents with dragons put to use," He admitted. "Maybe then we wouldn' suffer from raids so much."

Logo's mouth nearly dropped to the floor at this. "Hairke, you can' be serious! First a Night Fury and now ya want a whole mess of dragon as neighbors?" He shouted. "Dragons are, need I say, dangerous, an' the boy's is no exception! It nearly killed me!"

"It was your own fault!" Alta whisper-shouted. "And SHH! You'll wake up Hiccup!"

"Honestly, Hairke, just because that boy and Atla are willing to trust such a beast, that don' mean I'm about to!" Logo said as he completely ignored Alta, who scoffed in insult – even when he had seen signs that Toothless wasn't dangerous, he still doubted? Then again, he did have generations of burned houses and stolen livestock to back up his viewpoint.

"I know it's a dangerous idea, Logo," Hairke said. "But we need to do somethin'! For too long have we been at the mercy of dragons. Every time the raids just get worse and worse, and any ships we send out to help in the hunt for the nest just end up lost. I'm not about to squander any more resources and risk the whole of Draak in what may very well be a fool's quest! This boy could be a blessin' to us, he can control the beasts – I've ne'er seen any such man who possesses such ability. If a Night Fury will bow to him, what's any other kind in comparison? We need him, Logo, no ifs ands or buts about it."

"But what 'bout his father?" Logo asked. "He's prob'ly worried _sick _'bout the kid!"

"I'll... We'll have to discuss tha' with Hiccup," Hairke said. "He should go home, but we can' force 'im if he doesn't want to." Hairke turned to Alta. "Alta, I am willin' to give this boy a chance for the sake of the village," he said. "But I do not want his dragon destroyin' things. If I let him stay, he is to be your responsibility."

"Oh, yes Father!" Alta exclaimed, then remembered to be quiet and whispered. "I'm sure he could help us out with our problem."

Hairke smirked. "Perhaps. This boy may very well change the world one day. All right then, he can stay, and you are in charge of 'im, and you better not blow it, Alta. I mean it, if there's so much as _one _problem that the two of ya can' handle, I will _personally _ship him back to Berk the hard way! Am I clear?"

"Loud and clear," Alta said.

* * *

><p>Hiccup awoke to the sun shining in his eyes and the chirping of birds the next day. The long hours of sleep had given his body time to recuperate and combined with the healing herbs the Bone Head elder had given him and several licks from Toothless, his injuries had nearly healed completely. He mumbled some unintelligent nonsense as the rays of sunlight broke through his eyelids and stretched his arms with a huge yawn before shrinking back immediately. He was mostly healed but his body was still very stiff from lying around so much and some final lingering pains.<p>

He had been at Draak for a while, about a few weeks to be exact, even if most of that time was spent in Alta's room, since he was still in no condition to move around, Alta even had to help him up to her room that first night. But while he hadn't been around anyone else for much of that time and hadn't seen much of the village, Hiccup could tell he liked Draak. It may have suffered raids like Berk, but it was far more peaceful and people seemed a bit friendlier than the rough and tumble attitude of most other tribe. From what Hairke had said, they were somewhat looked down because of that, but nobody really cared. Maybe he could stay a while longer...

Hiccup's peaceful mood was ruined when Alta, out of her pajamas and dressed in her usual attire, came barreling from out of nowhere to where he was laying right in his line of sight with an inappropriately loud; "MORNING HICCUP!"

Hiccup jumped and got tangled in his blankets, fidgeting and wrestling with the sheets until falling out of the bed a few moments later. "Oh, don't _ever _do that again!" He shouted. "Was that even necessary?!"

"Probably not" Alta admitted sweetly with a bright smile. She backed away to let Hiccup regain his bearings and sit back onto the bed.

'Well, you're in a good mood today," Hiccup observed with a groggy glare as he rubbed his head in the spot where it had collided with the floor.

Alta giggled. "Guess you could call me an early bird," she said. "Most of the village isn't awake yet at this time. It's not really that hard to be in a chipper mood when no one's awake to annoy you and you have a few hours to yourself."

"Then shouldn't you be quiet?" Hiccup asked in a growling whisper. "Isn't your father still asleep?"

"I said most of the village is asleep," Alta stated. "Dad's one of the only ones awake."

"'Cause he's the chief?" Hiccup questioned. His father often woke up early due to being chief.

"Probably." Alta shrugged he shoulders. "I can't figure out any other reason why a grouchy riser like him'd be up at the crack of dawn. Speaking of that, stay up here for a while. He gets pretty cranky when he wakes up and it takes all morning for him to calm down. You probably haven't noticed because you've been recovering."

Hiccup chuckled. "I can relate to that."

"What do you mean?" Alta asked.

"Well, whenever anybody, me usually, tries to wake my dad up, he grabs the nearest weapon and tried to chop their head off! It happens so often he thinks I like it or something!" Hiccup never got an answer to his question as Alta just burst into laughter at his response. He simply shook his head at how easily the girl seemed to get sidetracked.

"You're kidding… you are kidding, right?" She asked as her laughter eventually settled down, her grin turning into a grimace when he grinned in turn.

"Classic Viking insanity."

"Yeesh, your dad sounds like a real piece of work." She began to shake her head in turn before standing up. "Wait here; I'll go get us something to eat. I can't make anything with Dad still in the house since I tend to get loud when cooking, but I'm sure there's something edible lying around."

"I'll be waiting, with an empty stomach," Hiccup joked quietly, which made Alta chuckle as she headed back down the stairs.

As soon as she closed the door, Hiccup heard a quick scratching sound coming from the wall behind him near the window. The sound was frantic – someone or something was trying to get up to where he was and in a hurry. It would have made Hiccup nervous, if it weren't for the longing whines that came with it; Hiccup was then able to place the sound as one he'd heard the first time he'd found the cove at Berk. He walked over to the window and saw Toothless, bouncing up and reaching out towards the window. Seeing his boy only doubled his efforts: he now clawed at double the speed and barked out excitedly, ready for a long day of play with him.

"Toothless, wha-" Hiccup replied before jumping back as the Night Fury finally bounced high enough to latch onto the windowsill with his claws. His back legs scrambled to gain proper traction on the wooden wall while his tail wagged back and forth, creating a small gust that swept away any stray pine needles.

"Oh, gods, Toothless, would you please!" Hiccup whined as he tried to push the dragon out the window, but to no avail as the dragon's body weight was about 20 times his own. Toothless only looked back at him confused.

"Come on, bud! Do you want to get us in trouble!?" Hiccup whisper-shouted. "People are still sleeping here and your scratching'll make for a very rude awakening. Take it from me, you do not want to deal with sleep-deprived Vikings!"

Toothless huffed: he didn't want to deal with Vikings, period – his Hiccup being the only exception, of course. Hiccup knew what he was talking about, though: the last time a Viking was awoken early did not end well, the incident involving a mace, a shield, and a very physical business transaction at the forge. The victim in question was Spitelout – Bucket, a Viking who'd lost half his brain in a fight with dragons and wore, well, a bucket on his head to cover it up, ended up with a bludgeon to said bucket as punishment. The poor guy had the sharp clang in his ears for a week, and actually tried whacking himself repeatedly with an uprooted tree just to get it out.

Toothless was more than ready to play with Hiccup, ready to go flying again, especially now that they were in the clear. The dragon fantasized just what they could do now that they had the whole day to themselves – the ideas that came popping into his mind got him so excited he started bouncing in place. The movements were so violent they actually caused the house to shake a bit and knock roof tiles off. Hiccup held his arms out in protest, furiously whispering for him to stop, which he eventually did.

"Look, Toothless." Hiccup started. "I know you're excited for us to play, but we can't do it right now." Toothless' eyes turned to slits as his ears drooped down. Obviously he didn't like that answer, but whether he was saddened or angered by that answer was unclear.

"Sorry, bud. But we're kinda on a short leash here," said Hiccup as he stroked the dragon's snout. "Look, the fact is we're guests here, and one step out of bounds will get us kicked out of here in a snap. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if that Hairke guy really trusts me yet."

Toothless's eyes narrowed as he snuffed again. So what if that bearded man didn't trust him? The feeling was mutual, anyway; besides, Toothless wanted to leave. As nice as Alta was, he cared for Hiccup alone – well, him and his child. Toothless preferred if they could go back to Hiccup's original plan, flying and travelling the world, seeing everything there was to see. They could leave this violent place, leave the world of Vikings and dragons and death behind, and experience life anew.

Reading the dragons thoughts like only he could, Hiccup grabbed the sides of Toothless' head and kneeled down until the two of them were at eye level. "We could have a good thing going for us here, bud. As much as I'd like to see the world, this life is all I've ever known. I can't just abandon it entirely."

Toothless' pupils dilated as he purred. "Promise you'll be good." Hiccup finished. "Show them how great dragons are. Do it for me, bud."

Toothless shot him a deadpanned look before turning around and climbing back down, Hiccup watching him through the window as he descended; he would do anything for Hiccup, but honestly, that boy cared about too many pointless things half the time. As he reached the ground he shot back a look at Hiccup and barked out to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I got ya. I'll be down later on." Hiccup said as he went back inside. Toothless huffed one more time before returning to the porch.

Now almost alone in the room, Hiccup turned his attention to Alvis. His baby had just woken up himself and was babbling happily, wigging in his blankets and looking around while shifting his hands. Hiccup laughed. "You're just as happy as Alta this morning," He said, picking up Alvis and ticking his belly with a single finger to the area of the sheets where Hiccup assumed his tummy would be. The baby giggled loudly, which startled Hiccup into immediately stroking the baby's cheek with his finger slowly to quiet him down. He didn't want to be impolite and wake anyone, and if Alvis did, he would be responsible; the last thing he wanted to do in the wake of everyone's generosity was be a pest.

At that moment, Hiccup heard a small growling sound, almost like the growl of a really angry Terrible Terror. And it was coming from Alvis's stomach.

"Boy, you must be hungry," Hiccup stated, for the baby to answer back with another happy giggle.

Such a sweet child, Alvis always seemed to be; he always did exactly what his father told him, and always looked up at him with a bright smile of pure innocence on his face. The poor conditions that he first found him in seemed to have been erased from the child's mind entirely, not surprising given his short attention span. Hiccup gazed lovingly at the child thinking how truly lucky he was to have found him that day as he raised Alvis over his head; an absent-minded move as Alvis reached out and grabbed a lock of Hiccup's hair that was hanging from his face.

"Hey!" Hiccup protested playfully, trying to pull his head away from Alvis's tiny hands. Alvis only pulled harder and giggled some more. "I kinda like my hair, too, you know." He said as he used three of his fingers to squeeze very lightly on the child's tiny hand, the move uncurled Alvis's fingers and let the strands of hair he had caught go. Hiccup quickly pulled back his head and looked at the child again, who was cooing and slightly giggling again.

A faint memory buried deep within him awoke as feelings of compassion and affection welled up inside him like a rising current meeting a slowly-breaking dam. A woman's face, blurry but clear enough to make out her gender, reached out in front and he instantly felt a gentle, somewhat wet touch on his forehead. Making out what he felt to be a moment from his own infant years when his mother was still there to care for him and make him feel safe, he repeated the action and brushed his son's forehead with his thumb as he held his head in his hand. He leaned in close and closed his eyes, giving him a light kiss on his forehead. "I love you, son," he said.

A lump soon formed in Hiccup's throat the second he uttered the last word. It astounded him to his core that he could say the words he had never once heard in his life from his own father. Every father but his seemed to say it as he heard whenever he wandered the village as a child, seldom in words and more in actions, but the gesture was clear. Every child that ever seemed to receive it though was the exact opposite of him, strong, bulky, and brutish. Hiccup was a thinker, not a fighter; where others would charge at the problem straight on, he would pick at it and look from all the different angles for a more practical solution. That always seemed to be mistaken for ridiculous prattling and every adult that came near him didn't need long before they had to press an ice cube to their heads. A cold feeling flowed through him, and it seemed as if he entered the dark prison of unconsciousness once again. Only this time there was a chilling feeling from deep within his heart, a cold that no winter storm could ever compare to – it was the feeling of abandonment. He imagined himself as the lonely child in the woods that Alvis was that day, a lone infant with dull green eyes and barely grown auburn hair crying out to a world that preferred not to hear him. The cries grew ever more silent as the snow started to fall, the child left alone to die.

Hiccup's gaze hardened in a will of emotion, and the illusion around him shattered. He had wondered what might have drawn him to the child now gazing curiously back at him, but now he had formed an answer. This child had been left for him to find and raise as his own, a way to give them both a second chance. He swore to himself that he would be better than his ex-father; he would never make the same callous mistakes he did. He would hold the boy's hand just to forever imprint the feeling of it in his mind, he would follow his dreams no matter where they led and Hiccup would press him forward with encouragement, he would tell him those same words every day and not set impossible expectations for Alvis just to hear them. Alvis would grow up feeling loved and accepted, and would never again shed a single tear; Hiccup would make sure of it.

"Are you two having fun without me?" Alta asked, walking back in with some bread and a bottle for Alvis.

"Maybe..." Hiccup joked. Alta smiled and handed him some bread while she nibbled on hers and shook the bottle of milk to mix up its contents on her skin before sticking it in Alvis's mouth. Hiccup soon found himself in a difficult situation with a baby in one arm and a bread loaf in the other hand; he actually tried sticking the whole loaf in his mouth to grab onto the bottle before all the milk came splattering out on Alvis. Alta decided to lend a helping hand since Hiccup looked absolutely ridiculous with his hands full, taking the bread out of his mouth and holding the bottle herself while placing the chewed-on bread back in his hand.

She was certainly a natural, Hiccup thought, almost like a mother herself. He quickly shook the thought out of his head since it wasn't a long jump before he wondered what that would make her to him. "Hey, Alta?" Hiccup said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Wh-Why are you being so nice to me?" Hiccup kind of blurted the words out, but he couldn't help it, he had to know. Granted, his earlier thoughts were still on his mind, but there was also the fact that she had been so welcoming to who was pretty much a complete stranger to her. She always had a smile when she looked his way, a reaction that was entirely foreign to him.

Alta's smile disappeared for a moment as she looked down in though, completely silent before she shrugged again. "I'm not sure, now that I think about it. I guess, maybe… you remind me of myself."

Hiccup's gaze turned away and saddened while he squeezed the loaf of bread gently, just looking at it as it turned to a squished mess and he lost his appetite. "Yeah. I get the feeling you aren't really... appreciated here yourself."

"Not really," Alta admitted. "Well, I mean it's not as bad as it sounds, they just don't show it much. That's kinda how it's always been. People just… prefer to ignore me. They call me 'The Dreamer' 'cause I like to daydream about crazy stuff and I've got my nose stuck in storybooks most of the time. I'm all up for a fight, but not in the same way as most and I certainly don't like doing it twenty-four/seven. I guess that's probably the reason I've only got one real friend, and I wouldn't even really say he's a friend-friend, more like an acquaintance."

"Who is he?" Hiccup questioned.

"His name's Nogard," Alta said, swallowing the remainder of her bread and sucking her fingers to catch the crumbs. "He lives in the village. He's pretty open-minded, but he sure as hel loves to be alone. Gods know what's going on in his upper stories." Alta tapped her head as she explained.

"So an anti-social brainiac kinda guy? You really go for that type, don't you?" Hiccup joked. At first it sounded a lot like Fishlegs, yet another parallel to Berk, but when he put most of the traits together, it sounded more like himself.

"What can I say? There's just something about guys like that." Alta chucked. By now Alvis was done with the bottle, so she took it out of his mouth and set it aside while Hiccup placed him back on the bed, draping the blankets for extra warmth.

Hiccup chuckled back at her. "You're an interesting girl, you know that?"

"Well, you're an interesting boy," Alta said. She then stood up and walked over to him with her hands behind her back. "So how are you feeling? Your wounds about patched up by now?"

"Well, aside from the fact that I got smacked in the chest with a flying boulder and fell about a hundred feet, I'd say I'm pretty good." He shrugged at his own fairly accurate self-assessment.

"Real funny, Mr. Comedian" Alta said. "Now if you're done laying on guilt, let's get going."

Hiccup looked confused for a moment. "Going? Going where?" Hiccup asked as he followed her over to and down the stairs.

"Well for starters, to get your stuff; I'd assume you have some luggage with you since you ran away from home," Alta said as they walked over to the front door. "Besides, you've gotta be bored, having to lay around in bed for so long. Now come on, let's just hope someone or something else hasn't found it first." Hiccup grimaced at that while Alta opened the door and led him out only for Hiccup to be rapidly tackled to the ground and licked to no end by an over-enthusiastic Toothless.

"Ah, all right, all right! I'm happy to see you too, now could ya dial it back a little?" Hiccup barely managed to get out in between the onslaught of Toothless' happy tongue. Alta laughed so loud at the scene the other villagers were quickly roused from their beds, and none of them were too happy about it. Before anyone could rush up to start yelling, Hiccup, Alta, and Toothless quickly rushed off into the woods.

* * *

><p>It took the better part of the morning since the spot of Hiccup's almost fateful meeting with the people of Draak was on the other side of the island, but they eventually managed to reach Hiccup's original campsite and collect all his equipment. Why they had taken so long to get it, Hiccup had no idea, but at the very least, no wild animals had gotten into his stuff and everything was still intact. After taking it back to Alta's, they returned to a little ways past the edge of the forest and decided to just lay on the grass and stare up into the clouds. With a rather sly glance at Hiccup beforehand, Toothless took off to a nearby lake to hunt for fish, giving the two some much needed privacy. It was quite peaceful at the moment, they were far enough from the village that the only sound that could be heard was the chirping of birds; the sky was near cloudless, which considering standard weather conditions in the Viking Archipelago was very rare indeed.<p>

It was so serene that Hiccup nearly fell asleep if it weren't for a nagging part of his mind telling him he'd had enough sleep. The silence between the two of them was broken when Alta turned to him, Hiccup being alerted to it by the soft rustling of the grass.

"What's your full name?" Alta asked out of the blue.

"Hmm?" He turned his head to look her back in the eyes.

"Remember when we first met," Alta said. "And you said that you thought my full name was better than yours? Well, prove it - what's your full name?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, you really don't want to hear it." He said turning his head back slightly and nervously glancing at her. "Jus-Just take my word for it. The first name's lame enough, so let's just say you win the name game and leave it at that." He tried to joke and even threw in a nervous chuckle at the last part, hoping she would just drop her little interrogation altogether.

Alta just sat up partly on her forearms hugging her elbows; luckily for Hiccup, she didn't see the faint blush of embarrassment on his face. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I do want to hear it, so I think I'll hold out on that medal, if you don't mind. Now come on, out with it."

"Fine." Hiccup sighed. "It's Hiccup..." His voice trailed off to a mere mumble of words too quiet and too mashed up to discern.

"Uh, didn't quite catch that." Alta chuckled.

Hiccup growled in his throat. "It's Hiccup Horr…" He trailed off again.

"Hiccup what?" Alta asked raising an eyebrow.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III." Hiccup blurted it out so quick and loud his face turned red. It was a combination of both the force and the embarrassment that came with it.

Alta paused before taking it in before covering her mouth to keep from laughing. Still, she couldn't restrain a loud snicker that managed to slip out. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, I know, real charming," Hiccup deadpanned sarcastically, still blushing. "You'd think after Hiccups one and two, I'd be a little more lucky. Then again I could have been named after some less pleasant bodily noise or function, so there's always that."

Alta laughed out loud that time, laying back down on the grass and even rolling around a little. "I am so, so sorry."

Now it was Hiccup's turn to laugh. "Then how come you're laughing?"

Alta calmed down and shrugged. "I don't know. The gods do strange things."

Hiccup closed his eyes and sighed, his blush gone and his happy face removed as if their previous talk about his name had never occurred. "Understatement of the century. I gotta wonder sometimes why they hate me so much."

That got her attention – anyone who could say something like that had some serious issues. With that, she propped herself up on her elbows. "Why would they hate you?"

"Well, look at me!" Hiccup exclaimed bitterly. "Stuck on an island where the only way you get any respect or even halfway decent treatment is if you're as big as a house and here I am as small as a bug. And never once did anyone bother to turn and look to my level. 'Cept Gobber..." Hiccup mumbled the last part.

"Who?" Alta asked. She was trying to keep it under control but deep down she wanted to smack him in the face. She hated the fact that someone like Hiccup would think so lowly of himself, and came to hate the people that would put such thoughts in his mind. Of course, put them in for as long as the Berkians did, and anyone would believe them to be fact.

"Uh, nobody," Hiccup said quickly. "Back to the point. I mean, me and my father rarely ever made eye contact and in those rare moments we did, it was like all he needed was one nasally word to get him to turn to the mead right then and there." It was then that Hiccup puffed out his chest as far as it went and deepened his voice in an attempt to impersonate his father, curling his fingers to represent holding an imaginary mug of the thick, bitter alcoholic drink he could never understand why the adults liked: "_By Odin's beard, why couldn't this kid be built with an off switch? 14 years of 'this' and I'm about ready to ship myself off to the edge of the world 'n take the plunge. I swear Loki's trying ta pull a fast one on me, saddling me with some talking fishbone in place of a real Viking and SHAMING THE HADDOCK NAME!"_

He screamed out at the end, his voice pained; who could say if it was truly what his father actually though, but with that line of his spoken in Hiccup's spot in the forge still playing in his mind, Hiccup guessed it was fairly accurate. "So, yeah, the gods hate me. _Everyone _hates me. Big surprise."

That was all she could stand; Alta yanked Hiccup by the shirt collar without any warning and glared at him. "Hiccup, look at me." She said in the most controlled voice she could muster. Hiccup, confused and intimidated, did as instructed.

"If I _ever_, _ever,_ hear you say that stuff again, I _will_ slap you into next week!" She exclaimed, slightly shaking him by the collar of his tunic. "You can't think that just because you're the odd one out the gods hate you! Everything you and they think is wrong with you because it's different is exactly what makes you all kinds of awesome! In fact, you're hands down the most amazing person I've ever met! I mean, _come_ _on_, anyone who can train a dragon, a _Night Fury_, no less, has _got _to have something right with them!" By now, she moved her hands to grab his arms in a reassuring fashion. "You took a chance that no one else did and can do something that no one else can, I'd say that makes you ten times as great as any man alive! If they can't appreciate you and everything you have to offer, it's _their_ loss!"

Hiccup was staring incredulously at her the whole time and blushing bright red by the end of her pep talk; suddenly he couldn't look Alta in the eye and even felt as though he couldn't breathe. Did she really mean that? The whole thing was quite foreign to him – it was the first time in his life he'd ever heard such words of encouragement, a lifetime of the opposite causing him to base his own self-worth on what others thought of him. He was desperate for approval, but his efforts always seemed to fall short, and everyone who saw knew it would result as such; perhaps, in retrospect, that was why he failed so often, because no one, not even himself, believed he could succeed.

He glanced back and for a moment, it was like he was looking at Toothless rather than Alta, and Hiccup subconsciously knew why. Alta was speaking in words what Toothless had always spoken through looks and actions – that he was greater than he believed himself to be. Hiccup was intelligent, creative, daring, and kind, and it was those defining traits that made him special, not in a way that just separated him from the norm, but made him stand out from the crowd. They wanted him to see in himself what they saw in him: some part of him he didn't even think existed, someone who could stand tall, speak proud, and defy imagination itself had he the confidence to do so.

Alta's words awoke a small spark of that confidence in Hiccup, and allowed him a brief glimpse of that hidden piece of him. And he truly liked what he saw.

"T-Thanks Alta," He stammered after a long pause, enough for the blush to slightly disappear. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. You're probably the most amazing person _I've_ ever met."

"Why thank you!" Alta smiled. Once again, Hiccup thought, her eyes didn't seem quite as scary as before.

* * *

><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**All right, brace yourselves - this is another one of those chapters that has a pretty big change - an additional scene that wasn't present in the original. Compare the two and you'll see it for yourself. I hope you guys enjoy my attempts to really bulk up this story. **

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

* * *

><p>Compared to the emotional roller coaster that was yesterday, today was pretty normal; now that Hiccup was in better health, Alta decided to take him on a full-on tour of the village. It looked very much like Berk, with wooden houses everywhere, a Great Hall at the end of a long walkway, as well as numerous large weapons, most of which were in need of repair due to recent dragon attacks – yeah, exactly like Berk. Alta explained that Draak was suffering from an increase in raids, though Hiccup noted that the frequency of which was nowhere near the rate that his old home was at, probably due to Berk's close proximity to Helheim's Gate and the nest. The only real difference was the more even ground, whereas Berk's village was situated high atop cliffs and had mostly bumpy terrain, with his own house on a hill overlooking the others.<p>

Despite the numerous similarities in look and feel, Hiccup was still very nervous to be walking around the village, even with Alta and Toothless by side. His eyes every so often would dart around looking at the villagers as they walked around the main path that ran through most of the residences. Alta continued to pull him forward a bit more forceful than he would have liked, not really helping to ease his near-shot nerves. Toothless, sensing this, would occasionally nudge his leg and look up at him with a soft croon, the message behind his actions clear: '_don't be scared__.'_

What was making him so self-conscious was the fact that everyone they walked by turned their heads and stared at him with unreadable expressions. Rumors had already spread through the Bone Head Tribe about him: the strange, scrawny boy who rode a Night Fury, the rarest dragon of them all, shot down by Hairke the Maximus and taken in by his daughter, Alta the Dreamer. If the two teens could only hear what was being said, they probably would have laughed: some were saying Hiccup was some kind of sorcerer who used black magic to bewitch the Night Fury and bend it to his will, while others were saying that Hiccup was part-dragon himself. No matter what was said, the end result was that the villagers, though far from cruel enough to drive him out, weren't all too trusting of him either, some less than others. Alta was used to being stared at, especially for negative reasons, and paid them no mind, but Hiccup was nowhere near as comfortable with so much attention on him, so he simply looked at the ground trying his best to avoid locking eyes with anyone, though he couldn't resist a split-second glance every now and again.

That's when Hiccup saw Niart, the boy from the other day in the healer's house. He was sitting on top of a mostly intact but still damaged catapult with Ruoy, who was pounding a nail that Niart was holding with a hammer. Niart was simply focused on holding the nail and the wood it was connected to and paid the small group no mind, especially with Ruoy's volatile temper putting his fingers at risk. Ruoy himself, however, glared ferociously at Hiccup and Toothless; even though Hairke had given the two the all-clear and allowed them to stay, he wasn't about to get all buddy-buddy with them. He was still waiting for when the kid turned on them and sicked his Night Fury on the village. He had voiced this suspicion to Hairke earlier, but the chief had assured him it wouldn't happen; still, Ruoy, like most Vikings, wasn't about to admit he was wrong.

Ruoy's nasty look got him an equally nasty one from Toothless in turn, and the Viking youth quickly shrunk back in fear and turned to his work again before he could slam Niart's hand, muttering unintelligible things along the lines of 'stupid dragon.' Hiccup hardly noticed any of this, however, his attention was focused on Niart the entire time.

"Say, what's up with that Niart kid?" Hiccup asked with his eyes still on the boy. It was another one of those sudden questions he'd been asking a lot lately. Then again, he figured if he was going to be staying for an extended period of time, he might as well get to know everyone.

'Niart?" Alta said before brushing her hand away in passing. "Aw, he's Ruoy's little lackey – follows him around like a little sheep everywhere. They've known each other since they were kids. Niart's nice and all, but he's pretty naïve and so detail-oriented, he's usually ignoring the obvious. He's pretty willing to cooperate with people most of the time, but that's how Ruoy always takes advantage of him."

"Ouch," Hiccup said.

"Tell me about it," Alta groaned, letting go of Hiccup's hand absentmindedly. "I've tried to talk some sense into him, since Ruoy is such a control freak, but he's kind of afraid of Ruoy and like most others isn't willing to listen to me."

"Seems like everybody's got problems with this Ruoy guy, don't they?" Hiccup said.

"'Problems' is too light a word!" Alta suddenly exclaimed irritated. "I mean just everyone thinks he's gonna be the next heir doesn't mean he can boss everyone around like he owns the place!"

That's what really grabbed Hiccup's attention. "Wait, what do you mean? You're the child of the chief, aren't you? Doesn't that mean you're gonna be in charge? Don't tell me you're engaged to him or something."

"OH GODS, DON'T _EVEN_ JOKE ABOUT THAT!" She screamed in disgust as she punched Hiccup in the arm and knocked him to the ground. She quickly helped him back up afterwards, but Hiccup was still wincing – that punch hurt almost as much as one of Astrid's. "You okay!? I am so, so sorry!" She apologized in a hurry.

"No, pretty sure I am. Don't worry, I'm okay." Hiccup confirmed, still holding his arm and rubbing it to ease the lingering pain. "Obviously there's no love lost between you two."

"You got that right. It's like that guy was born a jerk, but no one doubts that he's got the skills when it comes to fighting dragons and keeping things calm. That's why everyone sees him as a shoo-in for the next chief. I may be the chief's kid, but I'm also a girl, and well, the day Draak accepts a woman as its leader is the day my dad sprouts dragon wings and flies." She joked.

As far as Hiccup knew, there was only one female chief in all of the Archipelago – Big-Boobied Bertha, the leader of the Bog Burglars, a tribe of thieves. As far as all the other islands went, well it was like Alta had just said. There was no doubt that women could be powerful warriors if Astrid was any such example, but leadership was a position usually reserved for men. Men had the strength and the level-headedness needed to run a tribe, whereas women, according to his uncle Spitelout, women would just prattle on and on about the stupidest things, if his late mother was any such example. They could still join fights, but aside from that, a woman's place was a domestic one, in the home, cooking and looking after the little ones.

"It's not the first time that subject's been brought up, actually," she continued. "Father said I could still be a chief's wife by marrying Ruoy, but the idea of living under the same roof with _that guy_, or worse, _carrying his children_…" She puffed up her cheeks and placed a hand to her mouth to hold back the threat of vomit, she felt completely sick to her stomach, the idea was so appalling.

"Okay, moving on," Hiccup said; he really liked the girl and putting unpleasant thoughts in her head he figured was not the best way to get on her good side. "What about that acquaintance friend of yours?" Hiccup asked. "What was his name? No-Guard?"

"Nogard," Alta corrected. "He's pretty cool. He's different like me, so he doesn't have a lot of friends either. But like I told you yesterday, he takes the phrase 'loner' to a whole new level. He lives at the edge of the village all on his own and hardly ever leaves his house." She placed her hands inside her coat-pockets as she continued. "I mean, I talk to him every now and again, but he's not exactly good for conversation."

"You say all this like you're not on good terms with anyone," Hiccup observed. "I mean, you're a pretty friendly girl as far as I can see. Don't you have even one real friend here?" Even Toothless wondered that as he turned to look at the girl his boy seemed so comfortable with.

Alta seemed to blush at that complement – for whatever reason, the comment hit her hard. It was true to some degree, but she at least had people to talk to over the years – being in such a tight-knit community will force people to do that. Hiccup didn't even have that, even though his village was pretty much the same. "There was one person, this girl named Woh. She and her father came here a long time ago after her father was banished from their original tribe. But Woh hardly ever comes out of her house now. I think her dad is going through some sort of fatherly over-protection phase because I know he's the one forcing Woh to stay in. So, yeah, no real friends anymore."

Hiccup didn't respond. Everything seemed so similar to Berk – there were people, and there were dragons, there were buildings and weapons, and there were common links between all of them. But listening to all these descriptions of the people, Hiccup came across a profound realization: though all the people sounded similar to others he knew back on Berk, nearly all these people they talked about had some similar aspect to him, like they were pieces of himself. Niart's submissiveness, Nogard's solitude, Woh's conditions with her father. And then of course, there was Alta the Dreamer, the village outcast of sorts – it didn't seem like all that much of a stretch from Hiccup the Useless. Hiccup was looking at different aspects of his life from someone else's point of view and quite frankly, it was scary. Roll all these traits together, increase them tenfold, and he had to wonder just how he had gotten through all those years.

"Eh, either way," Alta said, dropping the subject altogether. "Come on! Let's go check out the Killing Ring! Father said that that's where you're gonna be helping us train dragons!" Alta then grabbed Hiccup by the arm again and dragged him away, with Toothless galloping after them.

"Wh-Wha-Wait just a! What do you mean… can I just! Hiccup continued to stutter the whole way over. Just what had he been thrown into?

* * *

><p>At the pace they were going, the three of them had made it to Draak's Kill Ring in record time. Like everything else on this island, the place was not that different from the Kill Ring on Berk: it was covered at the top with a metal cage singed with old burn marks from previous escape attempts by the dragons. The ring itself was made of stone with a weapons rack at the side and large stone doors with wooden and stone locks which contained the dragons the Bone Head had captured. The only major difference was the location: while Berk's Kill Ring had been situated on top of a large cliff with rock faces all around, this one was located near the forest's entrance, surrounded by trees and a large rock face overlooking the side. A massive stone archway marked the entrances to the place, the one on the far end that reached over a small lake led to a seat perched atop a smooth-topped massive boulder with a chair on it for the chief.<p>

"Here we are!" Alta said as they approached the familiar metal gateway and turned the crank to open it up with visible strain. She then entered inside with Hiccup and Toothless directly behind.

"Uh, e-excuse me, can I just…" Hiccup stuttered out, as he had been doing the whole way. The first thing he had noticed when he looked up at the sides were that some people were already there. Even Alta's father, Hairke was currently present.

"It's nothing special, really," Alta admitted. "This is where we keep the dragons we capture. I'm sure they do it on your old island too."

"Ba-dja, I-I uh wha, I don't, I d-didn't..."

"So..." Alta jerked back and started jumping up and down like she was all hopped up on sugar. "Do you think you can tame them enough for us to control them?"

"Yeah, about that…" Hiccup replied in a completely controlled voice, his period of flustered stuttering almost completely forgotten. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" HE screamed. All of Alta's energy was instantly channeled into shock as she jumped back.

"Oh, well, uh… I mean" Alta mumbled. She didn't want to tell Hiccup about her conversation with her father from the other night and make her father look manipulative to him. She twiddled her fingers trying to come up for a suitable lie. Suddenly, her father stood up from his seat in the front.

"It's all right, Alta," he decreed in his booming voice. "You might as well tell him now tha' he's here."

Alta stared at her father in surprise for a moment before turning back to Hiccup. "Right. Well, my father thinks if you can help us get the dragons under control then we won't have to worry about anymore raids. Your techniques were good enough to tame a Night Fury, so what's a few more garden-variety ones?" She giggled nervously.

Hiccup was shocked into silence, pondering as to whether this was really happening. He had dearly wished that he could show his own tribe the truth about dragons, that they weren't the evil monsters everyone believed them to be. That like Toothless, they could be friends, even family. It was an impossible dream, in all reality, something his stubborn, dragon-hating father would never accept and would sooner banish his son before even considering. But now here, in a land full of strangers, he found the chance to make it all possible.

He turned to Toothless, who crooned back at him and looked him in the eye, and his voice surged into Hiccup's mind: '_You can do this_.' The voice felt so powerful, resounding in every corner of his mind like an everlasting echo; even Odin's call could not compare to what may have been perhaps a moment of true, enlightened connection between two hearts.

Without turning back he spoke to Alta, "So you guys wanna learn how to train your dragons…?" He spoke silently.

Alta just nodded in stunned silence.

Hiccup suddenly felt a drive and a confidence he'd only ever felt before when he first flew with Toothless. It rose up and filled every inch of his body as he turned his head back with a strong smile. "Then let me show you."

The few who were there cheered with the strength of a full crowd while Alta squealed with joy and clomped onto Hiccup in a fierce hug. Hiccup blushed profusely before smiling again.

She let him go and Hiccup rose his head higher than it had ever been to look straight at Hairke. "Bring out one of your dragons. I'll prove to you, all of you, that peace is possible." He called.

Hairke looked down at the young boy – this was not the scraggly youth that he had first seen in the forest that day. This was a man who could stare down fear and despair with true strength of will; he now felt much more comfortable about this crazy idea of his than he did before. "All right, then. Bring out 'that' one.

The Viking Hairke spoke to at his side froze in fear at his decree. "Wha- have you gone n' lost it, Hairke? That devil'll tear them to pieces! Need I remind you that your daughter's down there?"

Hairke flinched at the thought of Alta in danger. "If the boy can train a Night Fury, I have no doubt he'll come out in one piece. As for my daughter... Alta! Get out of the ring now! Let the boy do his work!" He shouted down to the cage.

"Are you kidding!? And miss this guy at work? No way!" Alta shouted back, pointing at Hiccup; she was too excited at the training of the fiercest dragon they had ever seen bowing to Hiccup like a little kitten.

"Alta, this is not a request! If you don't get out of there now, so help me I will drag you out by yur knees if I have to!" The dragon inside, Hairke knew, was one that could bring down numerous houses and entire forests in a fit of rage. It had taken twenty men just to restrain it, and about five of those men had lost their lives to the beast. He was not about to let his daughter become a sacrifice.

'_Somethin's seriously not right with this girl,'_ Toothless thought as he walked over to Alta and nudged her towards the entrance, startling her. If he knew Hiccup as well as he thought, he was pretty sure he wouldn't want Alta to get hurt in an accident.

"Alta, listen to your father," Hiccup called with his back turned. Alta looked at him incredulously.

"Oh, not you too!" She called out.

"Please, can we just break character and not be stubborn about this?" Hiccup asked. Vikings were stubborn by nature – it was the reason why his tribe and all the others hadn't just packed up and left after 300 years of raids and war. It was the reason why, even after homes were destroyed and men lost limbs, those homes would be rebuilt and those men would put on prosthetics and simply charge into battle again. Gods, was it stupid, Hiccup thought, even though he knew he was not one to complain.

"Look, your dad and I just don't want anything bad to happen to you, so please just wait outside." Alta looked like she was about to protest again, but Hiccup beat her to it. "This is something I have to do, something… only I can do."

Alta just looked at him unable to think of anything to say, her previous retort completely forgotten. At that moment, she was looking at someone else entirely. His shoulders seemed so broad now, and his stance firm; if she was honest, this new Hiccup was pretty hot. She simply walked out of the ring as he continued to face the door with Toothless at his side.

"I'm ready." He said. By now, more Vikings had appeared, including Ruoy and Niart; the former had a smug grin on his face and his arms crossed in satisfaction. Niart, however, simply looked afraid and unsure.

"Get ready, Niart. You're about to see a dragon eat a kid whole." He smirked. "It'll be a good experience for you."

"Are you kidding? Shouldn't we do something about this? The chief's gotta be out of his mind to allow it." Niart complained; by now, word of mouth had relayed the chief's plans regarding Hiccup and the dragons to the whole village. Niart wasn't sure what freaked him out more – the fact that the chief thought dragons could be tamed or that he was relying on this kid to do it.

"I know what you're thinking – obviously that idiot girl's stupid delusions have gotten to Hairke, but they'll all see. Dragons are monsters that only know how to kill, and if this outsider has to be made an example, then so be it." That's what he said, but really Ruoy was just more than happy that this troublemaker was going to be eaten. No one bossed him around and got away with it.

"But-" Niart started only for Ruoy to suddenly grab him by the neck.

"Are you disagreeing with me?" He asked in a threatening tone; the only thing Ruoy hated more than someone telling him what to do was someone disobeying him when he told them what to do. Niart simply clutched at Ruoy's hand and said nothing, and Ruoy's nasty glare turned into his first satisfied look.

"That's what I thought…" and with that he let the other boy go and returned to watching the ring. Niart glanced at him while clutching his neck before following Ruoy's lead and returning his attention to the arena.

The men lifted the wooden lock and the gears turned, and the beast inside knew this was its chance. The doors swung open and a massive creature sprung out. It was a legless serpentine beast with a yellow and orange body and massive brown wings with hooks on the tips. It had two large curved horns and its tail whipped on the ground as it raised its wing and let out a terrifying roar. It shot out a barrage of oily embers at the fences of the ring, causing the Vikings to jump back to avoid being burned. Hiccup's eyes widened as the beast tied flying out only to be closed in by the metal barriers surrounding it, latching onto the fence with its hooks and blocking out a good portion of the sunlight. It flailed longer before finally noticing him and settling on the ground, curling its long tail like a snake and staring him down in anger.

"A Timberjack…" Hiccup whispered as Toothless growled back, taking a defensive stance in front of him and daring the large dragon to make a move. The dragon jumped back a bit, it knowing just as well as any other dragon or human how terrifying the Night Fury was.

The Book of Dragons had described Timberjacks as a lethal species that attacked from the sky with massive, razor-sharp wings that could slice through trees like a guillotine. Timberjacks were pretty rare, not as rare as the Night Fury, but it wasn't every day that a person saw one of these either. Hiccup stared at the Timberjack for a while, not making a move while the dragon did the same, its growl still present but its eyes now displaying a hint of curiosity. It must have been the light playing tricks on him or perhaps Loki was playing at his guilty conscience because for a second, Hiccup saw a different kind of dragon than the Timberjack. The large horns and wings were still there, but this dragon's body was colored in deep-red scales with black stripes and frayed spikes running along its back. It had even lit itself on fire with a quick bark, making Hiccup jump back.

It was the Nightmare. The dragon he could have killed in the arena that day and by now probably would have already been killed by Astrid's hand. He could just see the dragon on the ground, its neck bloodily sliced in two and its jaws hung open lifelessly. Astrid, stained in sweat, dirt and both hers and the dragon's blood, would stand over its carcass with a foot pressed to its head, smirking proudly in cold triumph. The Vikings would cheer at the death of the beast, a living creature robbed of that life in the name of honor. It was sickening, but was probably the case; Hiccup swore right then and there that he would not allow any dragon to face a cruel end such as that, especially not this one in front of him here.

Hiccup walked up and placed a hand to the snout of his still growling dragon, causing Toothless to look back at him, his pupils slightly dilating from the slits they were earlier. Hiccup grabbed the sides of his head and whispered. "It's okay, bud, I got this."

Toothless looked at him incredulously – was Hiccup really going to face this thing alone? Was he crazy? Sure, he was the one who encouraged him, but he figured that they were going to be doing this together. In pure rage, Toothless roared out to the Vikings in the stands. '_I knew you people couldn't be trusted!'_ He cried out. '_So your plan was to send my boy to his death! If anything happens to him, I'll burn this village of yours to the ground!'_

"Toothless!" Hiccup called out – somehow his voice rivaled that of the Night Fury's roar, catching Toothless' attention as he turned back to Hiccup. The boy simply stroked his forehead. "Trust me."

The words echoed in the Night Fury's head; though Toothless was driven to protect Hiccup, he also knew that he had to trust in his abilities. Those abilities are what got him back in the air after his tail fin had been torn off, after all, and besides that, he had told the boy he could. Toothless merely grumbled and moved behind Hiccup, offering a good whack to the head with his tail. '_You better know what you're doing.' _He seemed to say.

Now that the Night Fury was out of the way, the Timberjack slowly crept forward on its hooks while slithering on the ground. Hiccup merely lifted his arms to show that he carried no weapons, a sign that he could be trusted. He caught the Timberjack's realization of this and raised an open palm to its face, his movements slow and dragged out to keep the dragon's calm demeanor going. By now the Timberjack's eyes were still slit but also dilated like Toothless's always would and just as it was mere inches away from his hand, Hiccup slowly began to walk backwards, his hand leading the large dragon forward.

"It's okay, it's okay," he whispered to further calm the dragon, who by now was even starting to purr a little. The dragon snorted which caused Hiccup to flinch a bit, but the move was hardly noticed. "I know… you're scared too, aren't you?" He asked the dragon, whose eyes widened at how this seemingly kindhearted, merciful human was now seemingly reading its thoughts. He was scared, from fighting in to being a prisoner of war; the small whimper that escaped his throat seemed to signify this. But if the human was scared as well, well then, was there a reason for either of them to be?

Toothless was watching still from the sidelines; it took nearly every ounce of willpower in him not to jump to Hiccup's side and push the dragon back into its cage. He did trust Hiccup – it was the Timberjack he was worried about. On the outside above, everyone on the sidelines was leaning in to the metal fence as far as they could get, their eyeballs about ready to pop out of their sockets. Even Hairke was on the edge of his seat at the spectacle.

Soon enough the magic moment finally came: Hiccup stopped walking, his confidence had now been bolstered to the max with every step he had taken in drawing in the dragon. He simply closed his eyes and turned his head away, just like on that unforgettable day when he and Toothless formed the bond that had turned the worlds they lived in upside down and proved everything they knew about each other wrong. The Timberjack hesitated before leaning in with his snout and pushing it into the boy's hand: it was done, the bond had been formed.

Every Bone Head Viking watching, even Alta, Ruoy, Niart, and Hairke, simply stood in silence, jaws dropped to the ground in astonishment. Some looked about ready to faint, it was so unbelievable. He had done it – Hiccup had tamed the most fearsome dragon Draak had ever seen to date, and the way he had done it seemed so simple. Hiccup exhaled in relief, the dangerous part seemed to be over. He smiled at his new dragon friend, who was now purring gently. Turning to Toothless, he could see that now his dragon was relaxed and even cocking his head as he always did. Laughing, he turned to the Timberjack again and stroked its snout.

"That's right, big guy. You're not so bad…" He joked. Suddenly, his eyes were drawn to the Timberjack's back. He wondered what it must be like having a body like this dragon's, with such large wings that wrapped around its thin body. With no legs and hooks that couldn't be flexed as a normal arm could, Hiccup figured a dragon like this must suffer so when it got a bad itch. "How'd you like a little scratch?" He asked.

The Timberjack's now fully dilated pupils turned to slits again, causing the crowd to gasp, wondering if the dragon would attack again. Instead, it did nothing as Hiccup walked past its neck and near its back, scratching at its scales with his nails. The look on the Timberjack's face as he did was one of pure ecstasy; it purred and rumbled and crooned in sheer joy and relief, flopping on the ground limply with his tongue lolled out on the ground. As soon as Hiccup stopped, it whipped back around and licked and nuzzled him like a baby lamb would a toddler; some female and child Viking couldn't help but giggle and aww at the sight of Hiccup laughing in the face of the Timberjack's uncharacteristic affection.

Hiccup heard the gate open while he was taking care of the Timberjack now belly-up on the floor of the ring; he turned around to find Alta, Hairke, Ruoy and Niart, still with those priceless faces that he loved seeing in his own tribe. That was probably the only thing about them he missed.

Alta was stuttering as badly as he usually did before she finally got out half a sentence. "H-Ha-How did you…"

"I've seen this beast slice off men's heads in a single sweep and blast entire homes to cinders…" Hairke interrupted. "And you've gone an' reduced it to a cuddly pile of mush in a matter of minutes. _How?_" His emphasis was placed on the last word.

"Well, it's not like this is the first dragon I've ever tamed." Hiccup answered sheepishly scratching his head. The others all glanced at him in confusion, even Toothless had to glance with a more nonchalant disbelieving look, before he broke from their stares. "Okay, it's the second dragon I've ever tamed."

"But how?" Alta finally asked.

"Hey, you'd be pretty cranky too if you had an itch you couldn't scratch." Hiccup answered. "I figured just take care of it for him and he's your friend for life."

"Really?" Alta asked as, with no shortage of protest from Hairke, she walked over to the cautious though significantly less dangerous Timberjack and scratched him on the neck. It purred happily once again and turned to nuzzle against her arm, instantly falling in love with the girl just as easily as it did with Hiccup. Her face brightened like a summer morning sunrise. Even Niart looked happy as he got close to the Timberjack to observe it more closely.

Ruoy, however, turned beet red at the sight of everyone playing around with the creature: dragons were their enemies, always had been, and as far as he was concerned, always would be. And because of Hiccup, that opinion, his belief in it, and he himself, were being made a mockery. Not good for his authority. He stormed over to Hiccup, who quickly took notice, as did Toothless who growled back. Ruoy visibly flinched at the dragon before turning his sight back to Hiccup.

"Listen, you!" He shouted. "Just because… you think you can… you can't just…" His face was still red, but now more in embarrassment than anger. The whole think still had him so flustered and shocked that he had even forgotten just what he was going to say. In the end, he just yelled and stomped out of the arena, but not before shouting. "Don't think this means you're some kind of big shot!"

Hiccup just stared angrily at Ruoy's retreating figure. He may have had so much in common with some others here in Draak, but Ruoy was the only exception to that rule, and Hiccup was more than glad about it. Ruoy was now the spitting image of Snotlout in his mind – he thought himself a respectable leader just because he could yell at people, but as the son of a chief, even he knew a loud voice didn't mean people would listen. A leader was defined by how he could guide people forward, not just tell them what to do; Ruoy's methods of intimidation made him nothing but what he had always been to people like Alta and Niart, and what Snotlout had always been to him – a bully.

Hiccup felt a strong hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Hairke faintly smiling down at him. It almost felt like his own father was doing the same for a moment, but who was he kidding. His father would never look at him like that, especially not for something like this.

"Well, it would seem like my faith was not misplaced…" He started. He look up to the crowd. "My people, this boy has done something we thought impossible! Without a doubt, we face a new age! And this boy will lead us there, of that I have no doubt!" The crowd cheered, and Hiccup couldn't help but feel proud of himself as they did.

* * *

><p>Later on that day, after the commotion of the spectacle in the arena had slightly settled down, even if the cheers and praise were still coming in droves, Alta took Hiccup to the blacksmith shop. It looked very similar to Berk's own, except it was more rotund in design and a lot bigger; Draak had placed blacksmithing in a bit higher regard than the Berk did, of course, all positions were respected here because they all contributed in keeping life going for everyone in their own way. There were still piles of scrap and tools everywhere, just as messy as Gobber would keep his forge, Hiccup thought.<p>

He looked around and eventually his eyes landed on a man in the back who Hiccup assumed was the resident blacksmith. Compared to Gobber, this guy looked kind of young and had vibrant blond hair that had yet to age, and most noticeably, he had all his limbs intact. He was hammering away at an axe blade still extremely hot and soft from the fires of the forge, pounding it into the proper shape while whistling a cheerful tune; all the noise in the room distracted the man as he hardly notice the two come in.

Alta grinned sneakily at Hiccup, drawing him to watch her next move. She picked up the nearest, softest object she could find from a nearby workbench: a small roll of leather. Hiccup got an idea of what she was going to do.

"Wait, Alta, I don't think you should-" Too late. Alta threw the leather at the back of Logo's head. He let out a sound of pain clutching his head and groaned as he turned around to the source of the unexpected attack.

"Aw, Alta," he said. "I should have guessed that you'd come around here eventually with yar new friend, the local celebrity." Hiccup silently moaned at that description: somehow, someway, it had become Berk all over again. The only good thing about the whole situation was that at least he didn't have to hide his sympathy for the mighty beasts.

"So you noticed," Alta said as the Viking dipped the axe head in a nearby water barrel; the hissing steam filled the room and the water bubbled from the instantaneous heat as he left the weapon walking up to the two teenagers. "Logo, this is Hiccup. Hiccup, this Logo, our blacksmith." She introduced.

To the Bone Heads, the blacksmith was a respectable position, keeping everyone supplied with the equipment they needed to fend off the dragons and enemy tribes. Every occupation was respected on Draak, each one assisting to maintain a steady and favorable way of life. On Berk, the only admirable duties aside from the role of chief were those upheld on the battlefield; even the fire brigade that Astrid, Snotlout and the others were a part of had bragging rights. Unless you got in on the action, you may as well have been a rock.

"Hi," Hiccup said politely, even giving a curt wave. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. Heard about ya from some o' ma customers. Tamed the Timberjack, did'ya?" He asked. "Seems Hairke was on'ta sumthin' after all…" Hiccup blushed a bit and turned away to rub his arm like it was his most favorite hobby. The reaction and the silence that followed had Logo confused for a moment.

"So, uh, what are you making, Logo?" Alta questioned, probably just trying to start a conversation, as she already knew good and well what he was making. By now she picked up on the fact that Hiccup had introverted tendencies and was pretty shy. Even though she could not for the life of her figure out why he didn't revel in his talents and feel any prouder of what was in her and her peoples' eyes the most incredible thing they had ever seen. This boy next to her could do things that no other Viking, no other man on earth could do – the way she saw it, he could get away with being a little less modest.

"Just makin' a few extra axes," Logo said with a sad smile before sighing.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Alta asked.

"Aw, this place has just lost its zest without my little apprentice. S'not as fun as it used ta be."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked.

"His old apprentice died a few weeks ago," Alta whispered in his ear. "Long story, don't ask." Long story short, Logo's apprentice had been carting weapons in the wheelbarrow during a dragon raid and was killed by a dragon, the Timberjack that Hiccup had tamed earlier, sliced in half by its wings. The boy had been Hiccup's age, and like Hiccup was with Gobber, Logo had considered the boy a son to him. The loss had all but devastated Logo, but he figured he got his revenge when the Timberjack had been wrestled into submission and captured. In the midst of war, death was an inevitability for everyone, and the mindless violence that came with it wasn't some elixir that could resurrect the dead: that was something all who fought in war knew.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hiccup said.

Logo didn't hear Hiccup's apology, as his attention had quickly returned to his work, fitting the now-cooled axe blade onto a handle. He did not even notice Alta's face going temporarily blank before a smile grew across her face and her dark eyes shined mischievously. Hiccup noticed, however, and frankly he was getting a little scared.

"Hiccup, you stay here, I'm gonna go check on Alvis," She said quickly, backing up out of the room before bolting out into the village as quick as if being chased by a pack of Terrible Terrors. The rushed footsteps drew Logo's focus back to the entrance and soon the two men were alone watching her disappear into the village. As soon as she was out of sight, they turned to each other and stared.

Logo shook his head and chuckled a bit. "I'm pretty sure she wants ya to help me."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Hiccup smiled and replied

"Eh, might es well get started." Logo said, leading Hiccup over to his workbench and handing him a few tools to work on the axeheads. Hiccup took off his vest and put on an apron hanging in the corner before shoveling the coal in the back and heating up the fire again.

A few hours had passed and the two ended up crafting several axes together; Logo had to admit he was highly impressed by Hiccup's skill in smiting. Each axe he created had a level of quality Logo had rarely seen, both sides of the metal head balanced out and perfectly smoothed from an even amount of pounding. The blades had been sharpened enough to slice hairs in half, and the metal itself was free of any trace of impurities that might have remained from the heating process. Each axe crafted was a work of art, crafted to suit the customers' preferences but also had been modified according to Hiccup's own personal notes and ideas to improve overall performance. Being the artist that he was, he had even made intricate designs along the blades in the form of sea serpents or runic trails. It was clear this kid knew what he was doing.

"So, it's Hiccup, right?" Logo asked after watching for a while.

"Yeah," Hiccup said; currently he was in front of the fire, pumping the bellows and increasing the temperature for the flames beneath the heated pieces of coal where the shaped iron had been placed. The metal was heated enough to soften and bend, and so Hiccup removed it from the coals, beginning to pound the ends to make the slot for the handle.

"Eh, yur pretty good with yar hands," Logo noted coming up behind him. "Ya done this before?"

"Actually, yeah," Hiccup said. "I kinda worked in the forge we had back home. If I wasn't running around in the woods with Toothless, I'd be there, pretty much." A few more moments had passed and by now Hiccup was working on the blade of the axe.

Logo nodded. "So, tell me 'bout yarself, Hiccup," Logo said. "Hairke said that he knew yar father."

Hiccup jolted at this and nearly split the softened metal with the sledge hammer in his franticness. "H-He did?" He never would have guessed that Hairke and his father were related, but it may as well have been. With so many similarities it was only a matter of time before actual ties came into play.

"Yep," Logo said. "Though he said that our two tribes lost touch a long time ago. I came ta the island _after_ Hairke got married, so I don' know much 'bout 'him. What was his name again? Stoick? What was he like? I'd imagine yud know, seein as how yur his kid, n all."

Hiccup continued to pound the blade of the axe until it was at just the right thickness before taking it into the fire again. Logo helped by shoveling more coal into the fire and pumped the bellows with his foot to start it up again. Soon enough, the metal was reheated, and Hiccup took it back to split the edge in two with a smaller hammer and a pick.

"They guy is impossible to please." Hiccup said with an exasperated sigh as the metal was carved open and Logo took over another shaped piece of steel – the cutting edge, and fit it into the slit.

"He's a chief," Logo said picking up the heated blades and placed them in the fire, merging them together into a single piece. "He just doesn't want to appear ta be playin' favorites. Hairke's pretty much the same way."

"He's covered in that department, believe me." Hiccup walked ahead of Logo over to the table in his general direction, wiping it clean of any dust or extra tools and setting done a stone mat that was on the floor with visible strain. "I swear, if I hadn't lived in the same house with him for 14 years, I wouldn't have even known he was my father!" Hiccup ducked out of the way before Logo set the weapon down on the mat rather roughly and took the hammer to combine the pieces into a single blade and regain the first piece's thickness. "Not even if my mother introduced him to me while he was wearing a name tag saying 'Hi, I'm Hiccup's father'."

Logo felt bad for Hiccup – he truly did; it was clear even in these few minutes that the boy had an extremely strained relationship with his father. That should have been natural, most boys his age hated their fathers and their guts; it was a matter of pride, a father was a mountain for the son to climb and eventually conquer by reaching the top. That was the relationship between fathers and sons in a nutshell, but between Hiccup and his father, it was obviously something deeper. It might have been possible to say that Hiccup truly did _hate_ his father, not like others who said 'I hate you' which translated to 'I'm gonna be better than you:' Hiccup was more along the lines of 'I never want to see you again.' A burden like that could weigh heavily on a man, so it was really for the best that he get the boy to talk more, get it out of his system. He was plenty okay with conversations, his old apprentice used to talk his ear off over every little thing; he didn't have much experience with more serious conversations, and he barely remembered much about his relationship with his own father. But Hiccup needed this – Logo would just have to trudge along and hope for the best.

Think of it like a day at the forge: the topic is out there, the metal's heated. The next step was to slam down while it was hot. "Didn't ya ever tell him that?"

"Of course not," Hiccup said. "Our idea of a conversation was grunts, mumbles, and the ever-popular 'see ya'." Hiccup held the merged axe head in place with a metal rod in the hole where the handle would go as Logo continued to pound the metal into proper shape and size. "I'd be lucky if I got two words in for the whole day, a full sentence would be some kind of miracle; I gave Alta the same story, don't make me do my impression of him." He warned with a pointed finger.

Logo chuckled at the boy's story: granted it still seemed like a serious matter to him, yet it sounded somewhat familiar. Hiccup just raised an eyebrow at the smith's unusual reaction. "Ah, sorry," he apologized, "but you wouldn't be the first ta have issues like this. Alta and Hairke have a similar relationship, even though it usually ends in arguments that keep us up till dawn the next day."

From his small tirade of resentment, Hiccup honestly didn't want to delve any deeper into what was. "Yeah, speaking of next," Hiccup began sarcastically. "Any chance we could move on to some other topic?" Logo could see this was going to be a project, getting Hiccup to discuss all these negative feelings inside him and then forget about it all. Lucky for Hiccup, Logo liked projects, so he left it alone for now. "All right," Logo said putting down the hammer; by now the blade was nearly finished. "Where'd Alta go?"

"She's either arguing with Ruoy, or playing with Alvis and Toothless," Hiccup stated shrugging his shoulders. "Probably both."

Logo laughed and shook his head. "Those two will fight ta the end of time. Don' know why, though. I'd be damned if Ruoy doesn't have a crush on her." A smile popped up on his face as it always did when matters of love were discussed. Logo was quite the gossip in that regard, and so the teenagers would always be sure to keep any romantic affairs aside whenever he was in earshot.

"Not that I'm an expert in the field of romance, but I'll bet he just acts like she gets on his nerves" Hiccup pointed out. It was true that girls were no more of a specialty to him than anything else: he couldn't even look in Astrid's general direction without pouring waterfalls of sweat. When it came to actually going up and talk to her, well, he would have fainted from getting two feet forward. Just one more embarrassment for Berk's little outcast.

"She gets on everybody's nerves: she's a handful, that girl, always givin' a good piece of her mind wether anyone wants it or not. And Ruoy, despite any guff a' his utherwise is still just a kid," Logo explained. "It's prob'ly just his way of getting' her attention, 'course I'd say he had a crush on everybody if that were the case. Whatever it is, though, it ain't workin', an' most've just called it quits on the whole affair and agreed they just drive each uther nuts. Speakin' of whatever, what's up with that baby of yurs anyway? He yur brother or somethin'?"

"My son, actually," Hiccup said. "I found him all alone under a tree in the forest on the other side of the island the day I ran off with Toothless. He needed someone to take care of him, so I took the job and named him Alvis."

Logo stared for a moment. "That's strange, a baby in the middle o' nowhere. I mean, where in the name of Thor did he come from?"

"Aw, some other tribe probably landed on that side of the island and dumped him there. Maybe by accident, maybe by _certain laws_," Hiccup mused, spitting out the last two words like they were bile in his mouth, causing Logo to wince a bit. Alvis had received a fate he himself had probably only been spared from due to Stoick's need to continue the Haddock line, which to many was now seen as his greatest mistake. Had anything been different, Stoick probably would've tossed him into the ocean without giving the matter a second thought. "It doesn't matter now. As much as it shocks people, he's my son now and I'm going to give him the life and the happiness I never had. And now there's Alta, and she acts like a mother to him."

"Aw, Alta loves kids," Logo said. "Not your average girl, but I know she's gonna make some lucky man really happy." He replied before turning to Hiccup with one eyebrow raised. "What do you think of Alta, anyway?"

The question seemed simple enough, just an honest opinion of the girl who'd been his guide to this new yet uncannily familiar world, and so Hiccup thought nothing of it and answered. "Well, she's not bad. She really nice and cool and-" And that's when hormones kicked his common sense into high gear and Hiccup realized the true idea behind the question. Turning back to face Logo, he narrowed his eyes and sighed. "Oh, I see where you're going with this. Way to get the mood back on track, pal."

"Aw, come on," Logo urged in exasperation. Other villagers had heard his cries and raised an ear themselves to the conversation, eager to learn the answer as to the relationship between the chief's daughter and the wayward dragon tamer for themselves. "I've seen the way you two have been lookin' at each other for the past few days."

"Oh, please, it would never work," Hiccup said. "Alta is really nice, but no girl would ever look at me that way. Girls and me are like honey and eels: they don't go together, and you'd have to have yak dung for brains to think they would!"

"Hiccup, yar doubtin' yarself too much," Logo pointed out. "Alta's not like otha Viking girls. Sure she's nosy an' a little out there, but she's pretty understandin'. Plus you two are already friends."

"Hairke would never approve," Hiccup said flatly.

"Don't make this 'bout Hairke," Logo said. "The way I see it, parents have no say in who their children choose to marry. Besides, I'd say with all tha's happened today, Hairke thinks he can trust you enough to stay here-"

"But not yet enough to take care of his daughter," Hiccup interrupted. By now the metal had been heated and shaped enough for the final touches. Hiccup placed it back in the heat one more time, making it a little hotter than before, allowing for the more delicate process of creating the special designs. Once that was done, Hiccup placed it in the barrel of water to cool it instantly, and fitted the carved wooden handle in the hoop between the blades. The axe was now completed, and like all the others, the workmanship of the item was purely stunning; Hiccup took it to lay it down with the pile of all the others resting in the corner.

"No, not _yet_," Logo said. "Ya just have ta earn that trust, and given time, yu will. Now, I know it's uncomfortable-"

"Speaking of uncomfortable, can we please stop talking about this?" Hiccup asked, almost begging.

"Suit yurself," Logo thought for a minute. "Hey, uh…" he started rather awkwardly, scratching the back of his head "why are ya so willin' ta trust me? I almost killed yar dragon, ya know. In another time n place; in another time and place, a might 'ave gotten awey with it."

"It was just a misunderstanding," Hiccup said without a single stutter or even turning around to face the man, already fully aware of Logo and Toothless's encounter right after he was shot out of the sky. "You didn't mean it. Besides, if nothing else, it feels good getting back on familiar ground." Hiccup recalled back to those long days when he was in the forge with Gobber, sharpening some sword, polishing some mace, or making one of his strange contraptions. Gobber was always there to talk to, and deep down, Hiccup missed the old, crippled smith dearly, as he was practically the only thing that made Berk at least a little bearable. But one man alone next to a village full of mean-spirited, hot-aired brutes was not enough of a reason to stay, Hiccup reasoned, his friendship with Toothless and his safety taking priority to the boy. As sad as Gobber most likely would have been, he's eventually move on. Like Logo had.

"I see," Logo said as Hiccup grabbed the broom on the side of the wall and stated sweeping up the floor of any coal pieces or stray metal bits that might have slipped to the floor during the metal making process. A few hours later Alta appeared with Alvis and Toothless, having already led the latter with fish that she admittedly stole from the docks in order to avoid a hungry dragon's wrath after some pressuring from Logo. She quickly dragged Hiccup out as she noticed Alvis was reaching out for and grabbing every interesting thing, or every thing, he could see. Logo couldn't help but shake his head in fondness at the two 'love birds.' Seeing them walk out hand in hand had rather reminded him of Hairke and his wife, who had always been holding hands themselves as they strolled everywhere.

Hiccup couldn't help but reflect on all he had seen, all he had done, and most importantly, all he had met today. The different people and the Timberjack, they all seemed so familiar, so like his home, but also in a different way that seemed much more special. It gave him a glimpse of something that surprised him especially, something he never thought existed.

Without a doubt, the one most special person he had met today… was himself. His true self.

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow! I hope you guys like Bois's new introduction. Stay tuned, because I have a BIG surprise coming for you next chapter!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**TA-DAAA! Here it is, my big surprise: an entirely original chapter. So the early reviews asked me if I would include the Red Death, and yes, it will be included in my version. I'm throwing in my own little spin and trying to boost up the story any way I can. Really, this will be a series of four chapters that highlight the big battle, cause we all like Hiccup the hero, don't we?**

**To MattAShine, I got your review and I get what your saying about making Alta 'interesting' and make her stand out more as a character or else Hiccstrid fans are gonna feel gipped. I'll be perfectly honest with you guys right now: the reason I have been getting these chapters out so fast is because I have been working on them beforehand. It was just for pleasure to begin with, and only later on did I get the idea to post them up on Fanfiction after getting the original author's permission. At first I was just trying to bulk the story up with more details and spice it up anyway I can, so I guess I wasn't putting much thought into most things like that. I mean, I like this story, but its hard to put in that over the top effort when you're working on something that's not really you own project. Hopefully, with these chapters, Alta might seem a little bit more appealing or interesting, cause like this guy said, you really gotta make people care about the OCs.**

**Brace yourself, because these chapters are pretty long, like 10,000 words long. But there's plenty of action to go around. **

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>About two months had passed since Hiccup had first arrived on Draak, and Hiccup had been loving every moment of it. By now any doubts the people had about him had been dispelled as he helped them to learn more about dragons; the people were amazed at what they had been able to learn from interacting with dragons in the way they had, such simple yet incredible creatures who understood the concepts of loyalty and trust.<p>

The war still raged on beyond the Isle of Draak, and because of that, injured dragons appeared from time to time, some with simple cuts and bruises, some with cut wings or broken or severed limbs – the result of encounters with either vicious, prejudiced Vikings or brutish dragon trappers who captured dragons and sold them to the highest bidder or whatever employer they currently worked for. Amongst his many patrols of the island's perimeter with Toothless, Hiccup was able to find and rescue several dragons and bring them to Draak to heal and train.

It really wasn't that difficult, to be honest, as his training abilities had been honed to the point where any dragon fell head over heels for him within minutes – by now he had amassed a small dragon army, two Nightmares, three Deadly Nadders, two Zipplebacks, four Gronkles, and even a Thunderdrum. He had made great progress in bringing the dragons and settling them into the village, even making them special prosthetic wings, fins and limbs as he did with Toothless to restore their flight capabilities to some degree, and the Bone Heads were friendly towards them; sadly, no one seemed to have the courage to go flying with them. As good as the dragons seemed to be, no one was ready to ready for as big a change as leaving the land and soaring up to the sky, a realm man did not belong to.

By now, the Timberjack who Hiccup had trained had been adopted by Alta, who she named Bois and kept in the woods behind the village near her house due to his wing size. He was far too big to be locked back up in the Killing, now Training Ring, or in her house. And besides, a dragon needed freedom as much as they needed air, but she still visited him frequently in the little nest she, Hiccup, Toothless, and Hairke had crafted for him of hay and fallen trees lined up as a roof.

Aside from their rapidly transitioning way of life, nobody could help but notice that Hiccup and Alta seemed to be getting closer as the days went by. Hiccup, Alvis, and Toothless had been granted the courtesy of staying at the chief's house, where Hiccup and Alta would often stay up at night, talking about stories from their childhood, even making up crazy fantasy stories of their own with no small amount of snickering from the sheer ridiculousness of their ideas. During the day, they'd often be seen holding hands as they walked through the village, with Alta even giving him a peck on the cheek every now and again.

Alta was also becoming prettier than she was when they first met. Her hair had grown out and become slightly less tangled as it draped down to her back, and her breasts were starting to enlarge slightly. Her dark eyes were still somewhat starling, but they shined more happily in recent times than in the aggravated way they used to or always would whenever Ruoy gave her guff, which was still pretty often, even if she now never got as angry as she once did. Hiccup couldn't help but stare at her every once in a while noticing her elvish figure and wonder how she truly felt about him. He'd hate for his relationship with her to turn out like his relationship like Astrid's, if you could even call it a relationship, her hating his guts, getting irritated with him in record time, and threatening him with her axe if he even so much as spoke out of turn.

Hiccup wasn't too bad himself when it came to looks, if Alta or any of the other girls who he caught staring at him on more than one occasion. He had gotten taller slightly, though he was still pretty small as far as most of the other Viking teen boys stacked up, but at least now he stood on equal height with Alta. In between dragon riding with Toothless now that his saddle and tail fin were fully repaired, his regular visits to the forge, and his better eating habits, which were so because the cooking was phenomenal next to the slop people passed off as food at Berk, caused a great improvement in his health. The prominent ribcage that could be seen whenever Hiccup lifted his shirt had vanished in favor of more visible abdominal muscles, a full-on six pack. The girls' blushes confirmed it was a nice change from the meaty, sweaty run-of-the-mill boys they'd seen.

All in all, life seemed to be going perfect for Hiccup. A, dare-he-say-it, girlfriend, a cute child who was getting bigger every day, a loyal companion, and a beneficiary role to the community around him. It was as if he was meant to be born on Draak. For the first time in his life, he felt he truly belonged somewhere.

Then came the one night where everything changed.

It was late evening on the island of Draak, a few hours after the sun had set over the horizon of the ocean and darkness had fallen. Hiccup was on the small bed of straw they had prepared for him; with all that he had been doing with the dragons Hairke and Alta had forgotten to build him a bed. He was setting Alvis to sleep and tucking him into the blankets when he heard all too familiar sounds and smelled all too familiar smells. Sounds and smells that were essentially an alarm that could wake people in the spur of the moment and leave them sleepless and exhausted by the next morning. The sounds of metal on scale, rage-filled roars and battle cries, breaking wood and livestock being captured and taken. The smells of dragon fire as it burned the wood away, catapults launching massive rocks into the air, and the pungent metallic smell of blood as it spilled and mixed with the earth and ocean air.

The panic that filled him as only this frequent occurrence could despite any amount of beforehand experience filled him and he rushed downstairs as fast as he could. In a mere second he had made it to the first floor of the house, where he found the door barricaded by chairs and Alta standing right b it with her hands clenching her shirt. She heard the noise of his footsteps and turned to him with a worried look on her face.

Hiccup had to ask, even though he already knew the answer. "Alta, what's going on?"

She exhaled through her nose, the only sound he seemed to be able to hear in that one moment even as the carnage outside continued. "A dragon raid." She said worriedly.

Hiccup's eyes widened and he began to feel the sweat run down his face, cold to the touch in apprehension. In all the time he had been on Draak, even if it wasn't long, he had yet to see a raid in this place. It wasn't like Berk where the dragons would come at least once or twice a week; he had actually assumed in optimistic naiveté that even though Draak still suffered from dragon raids as Hairke had explained to him, its distance had made it less likely of a target. Now it seemed the time had come to reassess that opinion.

He ran towards the window and opened the shutters, and the sounds and smells he'd noticed earlier now had sights to match. Terrible sights of gore and chaos in every direction his head turned; it was like he had never left. But really, where could he go? It truly seemed that the entire world had been engulfed in the fires of war between two species destined to fight and kill until both were annihilated. It was the dead of night, but the fires that burned through the Bone Heads wooden homes and onto the fields and trees illuminated the ground beneath them, making it seem almost as bright as day.

"I'm honestly surprised…" Alta began while Hiccup was still looking out the window. "I'd say this is the longest we'd ever gone without a raid…" She shook her head sadly.

"You mean… wait, what do you mean?" Hiccup asked, turning to face her. "How often do raids occur around here?"

"About once or twice a month, Dad's narrowed the nest's location down to somewhere in the northeast, pretty far from us." She explained. Her father was smarter than most chiefs: most of the ships he'd sent out to find the nest were entirely for exploration purposes. Unlike certain others, he'd never be so foolish as to send armed warriors into battle in an unmapped location against an unknown enemy. Such a thing would be nothing short of suicide.

"It's funny…" she began again chuckling and looking down, "I'd though that by now the dragons considered this a war-free zone. They could come here and things wouldn't have to resort to… all this…" She gestured to the raging battle outside the window. "I always thought dragons were cool, and I wanted to believe that one day things between them and us could be better, but fat lot of good one different opinion does in the face of history."

They simply watched as the battle raged on with no end in sight, arrow firing, dragons shooting flames, swords and axes swinging, and livestock and fish carried away in the claws of the winged beasts. A battle to either an immediate or prolonged death, one that neither side would come out of as the victor. Hiccup's fists clenched at the futility of it all – a conflict that went on for centuries, there seemed so little point in it now other than inherent hate passed down year after year. Really, why did he ever hate dragons to begin with, or feel like he had to kill them? Just because his father had told him to – how could he not see anything wrong with that kind of world?

"Maybe… this is how it has to be… all it can ever be…"

"…No, it isn't."

She instantly turned, expecting to face Hiccup, but found only a boy who looked like him; otherwise, he was a completely different person. His face was hardened with a look of confidence and bravery she had never seen before. Suddenly, the mysterious, shy little boy she had first met that day, had become a giant with eyes that unflinchingly stared at the demons of hatred and misfortune and the Trickster God Loki who'd unleashed them upon the world in an amused whim. It was both intimidating and awe-inspiring, and somehow, more fitting.

"It doesn't have to be this way. History said that Vikings and dragons would be enemies until Ragnarok kicked off and the world ends; tradition said that killing a dragon was as natural as walking and talking." Hiccup explained, turning out the window where he knew Toothless was. "Vikings said… a dragon's blood on your hands was a badge of honor." Hiccup mused, his mind going back to the horrid truth that by some miracle or favor of the gods, remained a secret from his best friend.

"But… then there was me and Toothless. A stupid boy too reckless and curious for his own good and an unknown dragon that people have been fearing for generations; somehow, we became buddies, even brothers. If a pair like that can make it work, then I'd say we shouldn't have to call it quits on peace just yet!"

Alta gasped as Hiccup suddenly jumped out the window and ran to the front of the house where Toothless came up to the front and nuzzled him profusely in reassurance that he was okay. Hiccup pet his head and went around to fasten the belts on Toothless' hide just as Alta broke through the door after removing all the junk and furniture barricading it. She had gotten out just in time to see Hiccup atop Toothless's saddle, ready to take off.

"Hiccup, what are you-"

"Take care of Alvis for me. I'm gonna do what I can!" And with that, he and Toothless shot off into the village before she could continue, knocking her off her feet with the sudden gust emitted by Toothless's large wings. She looked up to see the two taking off like a shot to face the danger that lie just ahead of them cloaked by the sheets of fire that blocked it all.

"We're gonna do what we can, bud…" Hiccup said with focused drive, and Toothless turned his eyes to him. It was just like that day when they first arrived in Draak and Hiccup called out. Whenever Hiccup spoke in that tone, people were immediately compelled to turn to him and listen to everything he said. No amount of pride or stubbornness could provide any sort of resistance at that. But that, of course, was yelling, and somehow it was this quieter voice that seemed even more commanding. A leader's voice, suited for him; Toothless growled excitedly, this was the Hiccup he'd always wanted to see.

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><p>They flew past several of the villagers locked in combat with the dragons, one Viking was bashing a dragon's head with a mace, another dragon was clawing at the backside of a Viking who had tripped and fell after a clumsy charge. Hairke himself had grabbed a Nightmare by the horns and was wrestling it into submission while calling out to his troops to fire the catapults at the dragons who were making their way to the food storage. But before he could finish the sentence, he and several of the others had spotted the duo in the air, circling around at top speed, so fast that his body had only seemed a blur.<p>

That blur was still the only indication they had that the shadowed form of the Night Fury was up there with him, its streamlined black body camouflaged to near invisibility against the night sky. No one could stop staring – even after all the times they had seen the two up in the air it was still a true marvel to behold them. Pure majesty and wonder in the knowledge that something no one could even have conceived was happening in front of their very eyes.

Hiccup cupped his mouth with his right hand and let loose several different calls to the skies of Draak, a bird like call, a gruff rumbled roar, an exotic screech, and a massive roar. It was only a few moments after with the approaching sound of several wing beats that the multiple different breeds of dragons that he had brought into Draak, as well as Alta's Timberjack Bois came from the direction of the Training Ring and the forest. They all came and surrounded him and Toothless in the sky, and with a hand gesture from Hiccup, arranged themselves in perfect formation.

"Alright, guys, here's the plan!" Hiccup shouted ready to direct the dragons. "Zipplebacks, Nightmares, help fend off the attackers with us." Hiccup pointed at the dragons then to the field of enemy dragons below. He then pointed to two of the Gronkles, "you Gronkles guard the storage! Make sure no other dragons get to the food!" His attention then turned to the other two Gronkles and the three agile Nadders. "You two and the Nadders, you're on fire brigade duty, grab the wheelbarrows and any dirt you can find and dump them on the fires. Stop them before anything else gets burned down!" He gestured to the wheelbarrows below filled with water set for the villagers to use to put out the fires as soon as the dragons fled. All the dragons roared and chirped in compliance and split off to do their assigned missions, save for Bois, the only dragon who had yet to be given a mission. Said dragon flew up to Hiccup expecting for a job of his own, which Hiccup took notice of.

"All right, jumbo" Hiccup mocked jokingly, "I've got a special mission for you. Take Alta and Alvis to the Great Hall and help the guards protect the women, children and elders there. I'm counting on you to keep them all safe." The look in Hiccup's eyes told Bois that this duty was of the utmost importance and he had to fulfill it at any cost. Of course, given how attached he was with Alta, he made no move to disagree. Despite his large wingspan, he quickly banked over to Hairke's house where Alta was waiting with Alvis in her arms and landed by her doorstop, nudging her over to the Hall before flying them over by gripping Alta in his tail and taking them there himself.

Hiccup returned his attention to the fight, with the two Monstrous Nightmares above and below him and the Zipplebacks to his sides. "Okay, you guys ready to do this?" The dragons roared excitedly and bobbed their heads in the air.

Dragons had strength and they could do amazing things like fly and breathe fire, but well-coordinated tactics and organized strategy were failing points for them next to humans, even if they weren't all that better. Only the Strike class of dragons which Toothless belonged to offered any true competition – it could give the Berk elders and the Viking chiefs a real run for their money if years of unseen attacks were any proof. But then there was Hiccup, whose strongest point was intelligence; matching wits with the Vikings of the Hooligan Tribe always turned out to be a one-sided battle for him, even when it simply came down to a trade-off of insults. The schematics of all his numerous inventions could never be followed or understood even by Gobber, and he was the blacksmith who taught Hiccup everything he knew.

It stood to reason that only he and Toothless could command numerous dragons so effectively, the Bone Heads all thought as he issued commands to the dragons in midair while riding his own like a true military genius. This boy never ceased to amaze with all his talents, and the dragons all listened and obeyed without question. Really, what was his old tribe thinking when they cast him aside: if men were measured by brains, he'd be nothing short of a giant, a true prize.

With the hand gestures he'd invented to direct the dragons more easily since words were a bit trickier, he issued the Zipplebacks to launch down onto a crowd of dragons below. The left heads of each Zippleback unleashed their gas and rolled downward like large scaly wheels biting their tails as the right heads ignited the gas and turned into flaming wheels that rammed into the others, knocking them all down and rolling off the edge, then straightening themselves and flying back up for one to repeat the process. The Nightmares unleashed their fire blasts also at Hiccup's command before he clenched his fists and the Nightmares dived down as the Zipplebacks did and halted immediately to unleash massive gusts with their powerful wings. Some of the dragons, enemy Nadders, Zipplebacks, and a large pack of Terrible Terrors were knocked backwards from the force of it.

The second Zippleback flew past as the enemy dragons were recovering and let loose more of its gas; the hostiles cringed, expecting the other head to detonate it. But nothing of the sort came, and just as they let down their guard, a row of plasma blasts rained down on them, the oxidized blast mixing with the fumes to create a row of massive explosions that left craters in the ground afterwards. Appearing from the smog was Hiccup and Toothless, the culprits, who looped and dived back down to zoom low throughout the village, easily swerving through all the houses as they did the sea stacks on their first flight, despite the challenge of the houses being more close together. Toothless let loose more blasts as he went along, knocking down groups of dragons as he flew by with such force that some tumbled off the edges, and ascended to the air again. The Bone Heads, who had now been reduced to spectators in their own battle, cheered wildly at the duo at their quick conquest of the raiders, some of which seemed pretty impressed themselves or just simply shocked at the boy riding the most feared of their kind.

Sudden bleats and squaks alerted Hiccup and Toothless to the farm animals that were currently being carted away by the other raiders, emitting their cries in the faint hope that they would be spared the fate of others before them and be rescued. It seemed hopeless to the sheep, yaks and chickens that were being carted further away into the sky, the landmass below them growing smaller and smaller. Luckily, their prayers were answered as Hiccup let loose a new dragon call unlike the ones before: a loud, guttural roar to unleash his secret weapon against the ones that got away. And from the direction of the arena came a flash of navy blue and a similar sound to answer Hiccup's call – the Thunderdrum.

The Thunderdrum opened its massive jaws to emit its highly destructive sonic blast at Hiccup's command, trained in a way to spread the concussive sound waves in a wide range and at a specific frequency made to sound like screeching metal. The attack broke through the calamity of the other sounds charging through the night air and blasted over the other dragons. A lesson Hiccup had remembered from his first disastrous day in Dragon Training back on Berk: he had learned in a rather hands-on approach that noise was seriously disorienting to dragons. A loud sound such as hammers banging on metal shields could throw off both their aim and their flight patterns. So Hiccup figured that made the Thunderdrum especially helpful since sound was its weapon of choice.

As always, it proved to be highly effective here as seen when the dragons bobbed around in the air and shook their heads in pain to fight off the horrid noise. Their focus on this was so great they had been forced to open their claws and release the animals they had captured, which Hiccup and Toothless zigzagged through the sky to catch and place back on the island, one by one. As soon as one was safely placed, they had shot back out to catch another, catching each just as they passed the cliff level. It wasn't long before all the animals were safe and the Thunderdrum had zoomed off to join the Gronkles Hiccup had placed at the food storage to help defend their stores and scan the island for more animal abductions.

Hiccup turned his head to the flaming buildings that were being but out by the water of the wheelbarrows that the Nadders carried, repeatedly being filled up again with water from the surrounding lakes and ponds on the island. The Gronkles were helping out as well with the numerous clumps of sand they had gathered in their stubby legs and dumped on the houses the same way. He then noticed something and acted on it accordingly.

"The wind's shifting!" He shouted. "Nadders come in from the east, the flames are building up there. Gronkles, hold your positions above the houses!" He pointed and swung his fingers in the new direction and made hand signals to indicate the aforementioned orders, with Toothless barking out in tandem. The Nadders obeyed and moved accordingly while one Gronkles fanned down the flames with their rapidly beating wings and the other gathered more dirt, alternating positions with each drop. Before long over half of the fires had already been put out.

The two didn't have much time to celebrate as another gray colored Nightmare charged up at them, only to be swiftly brought down to earth again by Toothless with a prompt swing and a tail smack. Hiccup shook the sudden dizziness off just as quick as he noticed a number of dragons flying up to their position. He smirked at the sight: now was a good time to try out something new.

Zipplebacks, Nightmares, fire spirals!" He shouted, and all the Vikings looked up to him in confused surprise. 'Fire Spirals?' What was that supposed to be? It was a relatively new combination move that Hiccup discovered after experimenting with the dragons and learned how their moves and abilities worked in tandem with each other. At his sound off the Zipplebacks came down with the Nightmares flying upside down in parallel with each of them, their bellies in near contact. The Zipplebacks released their gas and the Nightmares lit their bodies on fire, and soon after they began to revolve together, the flames igniting the gas and the two pairs becoming what appeared to be two giant tornadoes of cloudy fire. The Bone Heads gasped in sheer awe as the twin twisters came charging and knocked them all away, sending them flying in multiple directions, earning another hearty cheer from the crowd down below.

A scream suddenly sounded off in the distance and Toothless' ears perked up at the sound of it. "What is it, bud?" Hiccup asked. But Toothless didn't answer and charged off like a shot: Hiccup wanted to help out, so he would help out. Hiccup finally got his bearings again and noticed the scene before him: a pale violet Changewing dragon with its long, spiny antennae melting into the roof of a house, where Hiccup could see a man shielding a teenage girl with pixie cut black hair from the oncoming threat.

"Gotcha. Toothless, go!" Hiccup ordered, and Toothless obeyed, diving down and emitting his trademark screech, alerting the Changewing, but not soon enough to get nailed with an extra heavy plasma blast, which knocked it down to the ground and sent it rolling off a nearby hill. By the time Toothless had landed to confront it, the Changewing had bounced back to its feet and let loose a low dangerous rumble before disappearing entirely into the background behind it. The two knew better however, it was the Changewing's own ability to blend in with its surroundings and become completely invisible. Toothless kept his ears perked up for the sound of any slight movement of the Changewing, fearing it would hurt the family inside, or worse, Hiccup.

A girl's shriek suddenly filled the air and the two instantly jerked back with enough speed to snap their necks to see the same girl they saw inside the house being held upside down with her legs tied by one of the antennas of the Changewing, looking ready to eat her.

"Woh!" The man cried, sparking a memory in Hiccup – that was the name of Alta's friend who she said was being sheltered by her father. "Let my daughter go, you demon!" He had a flaming piece of wood in his hand, obviously a piece from his now wrecked home, and swinging it at the dragon, who jumped back and hissed at the man.

Toothless snarled at the Changewing, but Hiccup held him back. "Hold on, bud. We can't risk it hurting her." Toothless turned with a glare to Hiccup, obviously knowing what he had planned but as always not willing to take the risk. Nevertheless, he steep back after a long moment's hesitation, allowing Hiccup to do his work. The only way was for Hiccup to tame the dragon. The man noticed him and his anger dissolved away to show the fear hiding underneath.

"You're the dragon tamer, Hiccup…" He started softly. "Please, please, I beg you, save my little baby girl! I can't lose my little Woh!" He rambled on quickly.

"Dad! Come on!" Cried Woh who was still hanging upside down, her face now beet red from both the rushing blood and embarrassment. Even if her current situation was not an appropriate time to be feeling the latter.

"Don't worry, sir, I'll do everything I can…" Hiccup assured. He slowly came up to the dragon, who snarled even more audibly and even began spitting acid as it approached. Even so, Hiccup, despite pausing to avoid the burning green liquid that ate through the earth and grass with a hissing steam, continued to move forward, barely even flinching. With everything he had come to learn in taming dragons, Hiccup discovered the most important thing besides discarding any aggression or hostility was to approach with confidence. Fear was just as dangerous to carry with a person as dragons could sense it like any other animal and instinctually strike back in fear themselves. Still, when a person is as scrawny as Hiccup, fear is all but natural, and Hiccup would always feel it no matter how many dragons he would ever come to train, so he took heavy breaths through his nostrils, which admittedly became smaller and smaller with each new dragon. Still, the Changewing, known for its territorial nature, was a challenge in itself.

"It's okay, it's okay…" He whispered repeatedly. The dragon still looked apprehensive, though that expression was dialing down further and further with each passing second. Still, better safe than sorry it must have though as it snapped at Hiccup a few times, causing him to finally jump back a bit. After one more shot of acid, Toothless had decided it was all he could stand and shot a quick plasma blast at the Changewing, his overwhelming fear for Hiccup's safety making him temporarily oblivious to the human hostage still swinging upside down, emitting a shriek at the surprise attack. "Toothless!" Hiccup scolded turning back, "Back off, bud, let me handle this!" Toothless barked and growled in protest, his pupils as thin as paper; one more attack on Hiccup like that from the Changewing and it was dead, he decided, regardless of whatever or whoever got in the way.

"Toothless, just knock it off! One wrong move and that girl's soup!" Hiccup argued, eliciting a frightful gasp from the father. "Please, bud, I know you're worried but this is the only way, now just let me do this!" Toothless only complained more, but the stern look on his boy's face quieted him down sooner, even if it did little to alleviate his mood. He gave a death glare to the Changewing, who had heard his dragon-tongued threat of mauling it should any harm come to the boy. The look on its face that Hiccup saw as he turned back around perfectly reflected its feelings towards it, a look of both fear, shock, and confusion. No one, human or dragon, ever faced the unholy offspring of lightning and death and lived.

"I'm sorry." Hiccup apologized in hushed tones, "but Toothless just wants to protect me, and I'm grateful for that." Hiccup gave a small smile to his scaly friend, which Toothless caught and dilated his pupils towards with a small worried croon. "And the truth is, I want to protect him… I want… to protect all dragons." He confessed. "I can protect you too, if you want… Stay with me, and I'll keep you safe."

The Changewing looked with fearful innocence at this boy, hardly believing it: he wanted to protect dragons? Could such a thing be true? No human had ever offered such a thing and the more it thought about it, the more the dragon _wanted_ to believe it. It wanted to live and for once, feel safe. The images that came in as a result of this desire were too much to contain in the dragon's feral mind, images of a brighter world for it and its hatchlings; imagination was a powerful thing, and though people could deny it, it existed in even the most primitive of creatures, and dragons' minds were more developed than anyone gave them credit for. But Hiccup knew, after all, he saw the world differently from others, he could see a future that no one else could, and his words gave the dragon a glimpse into that future, a world which it and all other dragons wanted to be reality.

Overwhelmed by the words, the feelings, the spirit of this one small human in front of it, the dragon started to back away in fear, the small whimpers it produced were all it could emit in response. It was still too scared, however beautiful that new future seemed, to place trust due to what their present entailed. Hiccup, however, only kept moving forward, slowly backing the dragon against the wall, eliciting a look of utter shock from the two humans. With words alone, this small boy was driving a vicious dragon into complete submission. Woh and her father were there the day Hiccup had tamed the Timberjack, albeit in the back of the crowd, but it still seemed too unbelievable no matter how many times it was seen.

Hiccup smiled as he continued to approach, shocking and scaring the dragon even more: the smile was kind and warm, like the sun – the sight of it awakened memories of when it was a hatchling itself wrapped in the loving wings of its parents. It tried to back away more, frantically scraping its claws against the wood porch but the wall behind it wouldn't let it. In its panicked state, the Changewing didn't even realize it had dropped Woh on the ground for her to be quickly picked up, pulled back, and sheltered by her overbearing father. Hiccup was now right in front of it, and reached out with his hands; the Changewing turned its head away and shut its eyes, expecting the worst, expecting to be choked or stabbed in the eye, which by now almost seemed preferable to it. Anything to stop the lies, the torment that came with the visions of a world that would only ever exist in fantasies.

But all that came was a gentle touch on its snout, and a storm of emotions: love, comfort, reassurance, peace. It slowly opened its eyes to see the boy holding its head in his hands, beginning to stroke its head as he placed his forehead on its snout. The Changewing continued to make short whimpers that almost sounded like crying, if only it could shed the tears that came with it, as it leaned its head in to touch Hiccup's forehead with its own.

"It's okay, now. You're safe. I'll protect you…" Hiccup repeated the phrase over and over as the Changewing continued to sob, its anger from before completely forgotten.

The sight of such a touching scene got Toothless insanely jealous, enough to butt his head in between the two of them and place his forehead on Hiccup's, not even bothering to chastise him or growl at the newly converted Changewing in favor of getting Hiccup's attention. If any dragon was going to be that close to his Hiccup, it was him and him alone – he alone had the right. He was Hiccup's friend, brother, partner, guardian, and soul-mate; the way Toothless saw it, that was how it was and that was how it was going to stay. Hiccup could only chuckle at Toothless' possessive attitude as these thoughts became completely evident, as they seemed to be with every dragon Hiccup got close to. "Relax you mother-hen of a dragon," said Hiccup as he pulled away and pet Toothless on the forehead while holding the bottom of his head. "You know you're the only dragon for me." Toothless only huffed proudly – he better have meant that.

Hiccup then turned to Woh and her father still standing together, who turned their attention to him in turn. "I'm glad you two are okay. Sorry for the rough time, but hey, dragons." He apologized, but the man only continued to stare in shock.

Woh, however, managed to slip out of her father's grasp and speak in his place, since he, in a Viking adult's dead-set ways, wouldn't be able to begin to comprehend what just transpired. Hiccup figured this, but let it go all the time with help from the priceless looks he always got – he'd never get tired of those. "Thank you, for all your help, um… Hiccup, was it?" She asked.

"Sad to admit, but yeah." He joked.

"Sorry, but if you haven't already heard, I don't get out much. My dad here thinks his 'delicate flower' might trip on a stray pebble and break her leg or something like that." She joked in turn, gaining a chuckle from Hiccup and a glare from her father.

"You know I worry about you! Especially with things like… like…" He stuttered before gesturing to the now docile Changewing still standing next to them, "THIS... on the loose!"

"Well, sir, dragons can be great friends and loyal allies if you just give them a chance." Hiccup calmly argued. "Why not let this one prove it? I'm sure she'd like a chance to make up for her earlier behavior."

The two looked to the now-identified-as-female Changewing, who looked at them in turn: she did want to make up for it and maybe see if they could live in peace, but she wasn't sure if the humans she just attacked would accept it. Even Woh, who was much surer of things than her father, seemed nervous at this, and for a while all seemed apprehensive. The Changewing soon zoned in on Woh alone, who was taken aback by her former captor's sudden interest in her. The small staring contest between the two continued for a few minutes before Hiccup decided to step in.

"Oookay… well, uh, maybe I should just take this one with me." He replied scratching the back of his head. This caught the Changewing's attention and she walked up to him while he climbed back up on Toothless. He took one last look at Woh as he prepared to leave: "Just let me know if you change your mind." And with that, the teen rider and the two dragons took off, with a final hesitant glance back from the Changewing, leaving the two to watch with mixed feelings of fear and wonder.

By the time Hiccup, Toothless, and their new friend made it to the village plaza, the raid was nearly over – the enemy dragons knew by now from the expertly planned defense and counterattacks of Draak's dragons and their small human leader that it was a losing battle. Most had been forced to flee already, with the last of the stragglers being chased off with further fire blasts from the Nightmares and even additional help from the Nadders, who left the Gronkles to finish putting out the last remaining fires, in the form of magnesium flare shots and spine barrages. A few of the raiders, however had suffered great injury and were left behind while others were much too curious about the boy who had commanded dragons and the dragons who fought for the boy, especially the dreaded Night Fury who all dragons and Vikings had feared since birth. Among their numbers were four more Nadders, two more Nightmares, a Whispering Death, three more Zipplebacks, two Gronkles, a few Terrible Terrors, and of course, the Changewing from earlier.

Hiccup and Toothless landed, immediately earning a recoil from all the gathered dragons as he approached a Terrible Terror and picked it up. The little dragon was greatly tense, but soon calmed as Hiccup began stroking its hide with his hand while approaching a Monstrous Nightmare writhing in pain from claw marks it received from one of his trained Nightmares. Hiccup only looked sad as he approached the mighty beast and began stroking its snout; the dragon wanted to snap back and bite the human's hand off but held back the urge due to its lack of strength and the calming hand of the little human before him.

'Of all the dragons I have to see hurt, why'd it have to be this one?' Hiccup thought, looking over his shoulder to Toothless and making sure to hide any kind of abnormal behavior from him. Toothless, unfortunately, was not so easily fooled, shown by the cock of his head and the trudge up to Hiccup to nudge his shoulder and whine to ask what was wrong.

"It's nothing bud, I'm fine." He lied. "Besides, I'd say these guys are in way worse shape." He turned to the small fleet of dragons, who by now had all amassed together in the air before touching down to the ground and looking at him expectantly.

"Good job, you guys, a counter-raid well done." He congratulated turning to face them all with Toothless by his side. "I'd say the only thing left is to lend a helping hand, or claw in you guys' case, to the stragglers here." Hiccup, the dragons, and the Bone Heads had worked out a condition in planning out there defenses in the event of a raid on Draak while planning out their defenses. Any dragons that were injured or left behind would be taken in to be treated and then trained: this way, the dragons would be saved and hopefully be added to their ranks in time for the next raid, whenever it would come. The Bone Heads liked the idea: it would give them more dragons to work with and more defenses for their village.

The dragons all nodded their heads and walked forward to help their former enemies, now injured new juniors, lifting them up with their necks or letting them rest their wings and use them as crutches to walk forward. They were beginning to carry them off to the arena to await treatment when the Bone Heads began to gather around surrounding them and stopped. The new dragons all looked nervous, swinging their heads to and fro at the mass of humans, who began clapping their hands and cheering.

"Way ta go, Hiccup!"

"Tha' was one heck of a fight!"

"Lovin tha' Fire Spiral!"

"No one handles dragons like you, boy!"

All these and more were shouted out, men pumping their fists and calling out nothing but praise for the excellent performance of Hiccup, Toothless, and their dragon legion. Hiccup looked down with a small blush on his face, shuffling his feet in the dirt. It was not the first time he had received such kind, proud words, but he loved every second of it. These were the words he knew he would never hear from the mouth of any Hooligan. Hiccup had found his own talents, done things his own way, didn't have to change for anyone, and here he was being celebrated for it all. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world to Hiccup, and seeing Hairke at the front of the crowd suddenly, joining the others in verbal pats on the back, only intensified it. Everyone was truly impressed with his talents and actions in saving their village, all except for one.

Surprise, surprise. Ruoy.

He immediately appeared from within the sea of Bone Heads, storming forward with a scowl so intense Hiccup feared his face might freeze that way. Of course, with Ruoy, that might have already happened. Still, it was more than obvious to everyone, even those who had yet to see his face that he had one heck of a complaint to give.

And give it he did as he turned around, and Hiccup couldn't help but groan internally. "OH, COME ON! WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS CHEERING ABOUT!?" He screamed.

The clapping stopped immediately, leaving confusion in the Vikings and intimidation in the dragons. The Bone Heads all looked at each other and at Ruoy curiously, some were ticked off at his insult, including Hairke, while others were beginning to chuckle at assumptions of whatever he was going on about. It was no secret to anyone that Ruoy had a problem with Hiccup, and in recent times it almost seemed as though he was making up excuses to get Hiccup in trouble or make people doubt him. Still, no one paid it any mind: Ruoy was the kind of boy who would get into a screaming match with a Thunderdrum just for the heck of it. Niart appeared from the crowd suddenly: "What do you mean, Ruoy?"

"I mean we just got attacked by dragons! In a raid!" Ruoy shouted.

"An' where've you been for the last three hundred years exactly?" Shouted back a random Viking from the group. "We always get attacked by dragons!"

"Exactly my point!" Ruoy ranted. "We always get attacked! By DRAGONS! The same dragons that this scrawny dimwit is telling us are harmless and loyal!" He pointed to Hiccup accusingly, who glared back at him. "HE is telling us that these… MONSTERS… can actually be controlled! That they'll fight FOR us and stop trying to fricassee and/or starve us to death! Doesn't it bother anyone that he's telling us to forget everything we've known as truth for generations!?"

"Everything you know is wrong!" Hiccup called out from behind him, with the chorus of snarls and growls from his dragons accompanying his claims. "Dragons are good, and we can work together with them! I just proved that to you tonight!"

"It's true, Ruoy," said Hairke as he walked forward with a stern expression on his face. He looked like he was about ready to chop Ruoy in half by now for his previous comment. And Ruoy knew it, giving a slight gulp while trying desperately to maintain his furious expression. "You were on fire brigade duty. You were out here with us – you saw just like all of us how Hiccup commanded the dragons to fight off the attackers. Or do you think we IDIOTS need more proof of his claim?" He deliberately placed emphasis on the 'idiots' part to emphasize Ruoy's thoughtless comment to him, and that softened up his face just a bit. Other than another defiant growl, Ruoy remained silenced in the face of his chief.

"Oh just forget it, dad. Ruoy will say anything to look like the smart guy." Sounded a voice from up in the air; everyone looked up to see Alta and several of the women and children riding Bois over to the square. He had laid down to let Alta, who was cradling Alvis in her arms, off to walk up to her father.

"Alta, are you and the others ok?" Asked Hairke.

"Of course we are, dad; Hiccup got Bois over to the Great Hall to help the guards. Gotta say, my boy put up one heck of a fight." She explained while Bois turned his head over to her and she pet his snout. During the battle, a large, rather vicious looking pack of Gronkles had come over to the Hall ready to ransack the inside for any more food. The guards were ready to hold them back and had charged in to do so, but their shields and maces had been melted away by their lava blasts. Just as the enemies were about to deal the finishing blow, Bois had appeared and with a full 360 spin had knocked the Gronkles back and delivered heavy cuts on their hides. A few more ember shots on them and they retreated in an instant, leaving the once vicious Timberjack to be showered with pets and praise.

"Alta!" Cried out a familiar voice to both Hiccup and Alta from the back of the crowd. Out from the people came Woh and her father, who came up to Alta in a rush.

"Woh!" Alta returned. "You're okay! When I didn't see you and your dad at the Great Hall, I thought-"

"Yeah, my _father_," Woh emphasized while looking back at the man, "thought it was a good idea to stay home and board up the place like it was actually gonna be the ONE house that wouldn't get trampled." Her father could only chuckle in embarrassment over his lack of logic and poor judgment.

"But you're okay now, right?" Alta asked.

"Yeah, Hiccup saved us." Woh replied clasping her hands together in admiration. "He tamed that Changewing rover there in minutes – it was totally amazing." Hiccup only blushed further at that last comment. As mad as he was for Ruoy's out-of place comments, it seemed there was still enough room in his thoughts for the bashfulness that came with praises. Praises that, sadly, he would never grow accustomed to hearing thanks to his long track record of screw-ups and chastisements for them. In his efforts to focus on the ever-so-important-at-the-moment ground, he didn't notice Alta smiling at him before returning to the main issue at hand.

"Yeah, yeah, Hiccup's so great, Hiccup's amazing, let's all get down on our knees and BOW!" Ruoy spat. "Never mind the fact that the village is a total wreck!" The sad thing was, he was right this time; the villagers followed the hand he gestured with to the village and saw it was, for lack of a better term, a complete mess. Houses were broken into, roofs were shattered to pieces, even planks on the docks were missing boards.

"We can rebuild," Hairke pointed out, "we've always rebuilt. It's all but second nature to us now."

"Yeah, well, what about our food?" Ruoy asked. "Chief, you know how heavy our food stores get hit every time those animals come around!" Once again, the dragons snarled at the aggressive and overly-used term. "They don't need to fry us to a crisp – they'll just let starvation finish the job for them."

"Hairke!" As if right on cue, Logo called out from the sidelines. HE had come up to Hairke sweaty and panting, like he had just run 10 laps around the perimeter of the island. In his hands was a medium-sized piece of paper.

"Ah, Logo." Hairke took a deep breath and sighed – this was always the part he hated most about the raids, hearing the status reports on the aftermath. His mind could already picture the endless fishing trips, and worse, the funerals they would have to hold afterwards for the brave Vikings who lost their lives. It was a personal responsibility of his to offer condolences to the families who had suffered the losses, even though it was never easy for anyone. The tears, the solemn feasts, and the pyre lightings in quick succession of each other, made everyone wonder if the grief was ever properly let out. "Might as well get it over with, how many casualties?"

"Eh… well, none, actually." Logo said awkwardly.

The entire atmosphere had switched in an instant it seemed, as did the center of attention, with everyone turning from the ranting Ruoy to Logo, with eyes widened so much eyelids could rip apart. As unsure as Logo seemed in how to announce, Hairke was completely unsure how to respond. No casualties? No blood or death, which was the norm for any and every tribe in the Archipelago dragged into this ages-old conflict?

"None, as in… _none_?" Hairke finally asked after a moment of silence. "Are you sure? Did you double-check the numbers?"

"I check, doubled-checked, triple-checked, and quadruple-checked, Hairke," Logo replied. "And the numbers all add up to… none, zip, zero. And trust me, I'm as surprised as you are. Not even so much as a chomped arm."

Though it was still the dead of night, the smiles that begun to appear on every Bone Head's face glowed as if the sun had just appeared over the horizon. Some had begun to laugh before everyone joined in, and before long, those laughs turned to exuberant cheers. This may very well have been history – this first raid in the history of the dragon-Viking wars where not a single life was lost. Where men could all go home and see their wives and children all safe and sound, and families could remain whole. Where everyone would live to see the next day and face it with a smile knowing that this night wasn't their last. Hairke simply retained the giant smile on his face while his people cheered, overjoyed at the knowledge that the cheers he heard belonged to ALL his people, that there wasn't even one less voice in that crowd.

"By the gods, a miracle…" he whispered, before he remembered he wasn't done yet. He shook his head and regained his professional attitude. "Right, well then, uh… good. What about the animals. Any missing."

And just like that, Logo stated juggling the words in his head again and tapping his fingers on the back of the taut-held paper in his hands. "Eh, that's another thing, no. All animals are present and accounted for."

If it was even possible, the cheers got louder, but that was probably because some of the dragons stated to join in with their roars. "You're positive, even the sheep?" Hairke once again felt the need to ask, holding out his hand as if to balance his heavy form lest it fall over in disbelief. The dragons they had on Draak loved playing with the animals, especially the sheep, who they would toss around in little games of catch with each other. The animals were still partly freaked out by the inclusion and activities of the dragons, but otherwise paid them no mind. Hairke and the others figured that wild dragons would get just as much pleasure out of eating them as their domesticated ones did out of rough play with them.

"Trust me, I don't make oversights when it comes to matters of sudden absences of lambs or limbs." Logo replied more assuredly thanks to the positive response. Hairke shook his head, but still couldn't help the chuckle that came from his mouth at this lighthearted joke.

"All right then, I'm probably gonna feel stupid for asking, but how 'bout our food, then?" At this point Hairke was more than ready to hear the reply, something he, admittedly, never thought would happen until the miraculous day came when the dragons were gone and Vikings were free of them.

"Well, if ya count our little dippings into the stores a problem, then yeah, it's not looking so good." Hiccup found Logo's reply amusing, his mind going back to his witty comment about his ex-people's over-eating problems on the night he had shot down Toothless. Unlike that time, however, the response was met much better with people laughing and swishing their large stomachs around to jokingly emphasize his point. "Other than that, we're good. Hiccup's Gronkle guards and the Thunderdrum kept the enemy dragons from even getting close.

Hiccup had never been prouder of himself in his life than in that one moment – his actions, his decisions, his efforts had saved the village and left it completely untouched. Here he was making a difference in people's lives, this time for the better, now people were celebrating him and not laughing in his face, now he was a hero, not some hopeless loser who could only make things worse for everyone just by being around. His father and the other Hooligans always expected this from him, for him to do something important and good so he could be the chief they expected him to be in the way they expected him to get there. Stubborn and hardheaded as they were, they never accepted that the traditional way to glory and prominence wasn't for him, and they had the nerve to suggest that he himself was at fault for it, when Hiccup had tried to find his own way there. Letting Toothless go on that day turned out to be the best decision of his life, for now it enabled him to find strengths in himself he didn't think existed. This was _their_ victory, so when Toothless came up to give him a nudge on the arm, Hiccup took his head and pet his forehead, eliciting a purr of happiness from him.

"So let me see if I've got this right," Alta started looking rather smugly at Ruoy, "our first raid ever with no deaths, no lost limbs, no missing food or animals, and you've STILL got a problem?"

As always, whenever Alta spoke, that got Ruoy started up again. "Listen, you-"

"We get it, you don't like him," She waved her hands in the air in exasperation; she had had it up to here with his stuck-up attitude and his petty jealousy, "but face it, if it weren't for Hiccup and the dragons, we'd all be blasted to smithereens, why can't you accept that for once, we're all on the same side, here!?" She shouted. Her last comment really got Hiccup's attention though, with a sharp gasp his mind flashed back to when he was but a toddler and he saw his first raid ever. His father and Gobber told him all about the dragons, saying the most cruel, prejudiced things about them, passing them off as terrifying monsters, helspawn that needed to be eradicated. Here he was now, fighting alongside those very same creatures that he, like every other, was taught to hate and fear.

"On the same side? What do you think just attacked us, fish with wings?" Ruoy shouted. "Were THOSE dragons on our side? Huh!?" He screamed.

"Well, no, but-"

"Hairke!" Ruoy turned to the chief, deciding to ignore Alta now and whatever stupid rebuttal she might have offered. "You're the one who put this outsider to the task of taming dragons, how could you possibly think that it would work? Dragons have been raiding our village for as long as anyone can remember, and tonight was no exception. Fancy tricks aside it doesn't change the fact that they still came, like you said they would!" Hairke merely stared silently back at him, an unreadable expression on his face, while he continued. "You knew no matter how many times the dragons left, they'd be back again to steal what little we'd gathered for ourselves. We all knew the only way peace could ever come was if dragons were wiped from this world. And now look, some boy and his pet Night Fury come along and all of a sudden you think a dragon should be in every home!? Answer me now, Hairke, what really changed!?"

Hairke continued to stare, but he had managed to catch Hiccup out of the corner of his eye – the boy looked to be lost in thought about the whole matter. He didn't want him to think his efforts were fruitless, because the small army of dragons behind him proved beyond any doubt of Ruoy's that they were. With a long pause, he answered, hoping his response would encourage Hiccup, "On that day, when I found Hiccup and his dragon in the woods, wounded from our attack, when it saw us, the Night Fury rose up instantly to protect him and his child, out of pure instinct.

Ruoy's eyes widened slightly – he had never gotten all the details to the story, so imagine his shock when he heard how a dragon was protecting a human. "In that moment, what I saw was no monster, but a living, breathing shield. I suppose it was then that my mind was opened to a new possibility." He looked to Hiccup again, but the boy still seemed to be thinking hard.

"Listen well, Ruoy, I am well aware of what my thoughts and opinions were at that time, but I am willing to accept that I was wrong in the face of everything this boy has shown us." Hairke started again. "That being said, the battle between men and dragons began long before anyone here was even born – I don't expect anyone, much less a child, to change the world in a day, and neither should you." He pushed Ruoy back with a meaty finger to his chest, and even with that one digit, Ruoy was budged a few steps back.

At that point Ruoy apparently just wanted to keep the discussion going for the sake of the argument itself, and Hairke and the other villagers were more than happy to oblige. They just kept shouting and arguing, eventually skipping over tonight's raid entirely and moving on to more meaningless topics like the daily squabbles that occurred every day. Alta however, took no notice of this as she just kept staring at Hiccup, who the entire village and their complaints seemed lost to.

"Hiccup?"

Hiccup was going over everything that was said and everything that had happened tonight, in comparison to everything that happened prior to it. In retrospect this was a remarkable thing, the first time in history that humans and dragons had fought together, worked together to achieve a common goal. As Ruoy and Hairke said, it was something that no one on either side had considered unless they had seen proof of it, and even then there were still non-believers. Some, of course, would never believe, like the people of Berk, and they wouldn't stop until humanity's collective dream of dragon genocide was realized, or until they died attempting to realize it. He thought back to his own words with the Changewing earlier, what was it he said? He wanted to protect dragons, all of them, and create a world where they could be safe; it was his own dream, and because it was such, he felt it was something he had to be realized.

With that his resolve was hardened; he clenched his fists and walked away from the crowd, the dragons parting ways for him to get through his Toothless following closely behind. One way or another, this war… had to end.

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow! Next chapter things really start to heat up!<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 2 ready here. The big encounter - hope you guys like it!**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>A week had passed since the successful raid and the big 'Ruoy vs. Draak' fight, and Hiccup had spent most of that time working with the new dragons to get them comfortable and trained to aid in the village's defense in time for the raid. The Nadders, Nightmares, Gronkles, and Zipplebacks, since they were the more abundant and common dragons, were instructed in offensive guard tactics and defense of the food and animals, and the Changewing, with its invisibility techniques, was assigned to guard the food as well, in addition to serving as a sentry for the island. Alta's friend Woh, who was a bit nervous around the dragon at first, seemed to be getting more and more comfortable with it, thanks to the time she spent sneaking close by while Hiccup was training her, and now the Changewing seemed to like following her around most of the day afterwards.<p>

The Whispering Death, on the other hand, was put to good use creating a network of tunnels underneath the islands to serve as escape routes for the women and children. The measure was set up in case the Great Hall became unsafe and they could leave without anyone's notice, whether the island was attacked by dragons, pirates, or enemy tribes. Everyone was impressed greatly by both Hiccup's strategic genius and his taming the dragons in record time, never mind the praises he was still getting for his successful battle from last week. It was nice to know that when someone did good around here, no one made sure they forgot about it anytime soon – Hiccup supposed that was a strong reason egos were as big as they were back home.

However, Hiccup was more interested in his other project at the moment; from that night to now in the present, he had only been thinking one thing: protect the dragons. To that end, once he was done with training each day, he would rush to the back of the forge and work on some secret project that no one knew the contents of. As far as anyone, even Alta, saw, Hiccup would just lock himself in the forge for hours on end, all night actually, and came out just an hour before sunrise to get a tiny bit of sleep, and after several nights of it, people were starting to get a little worried.

The general consensus on the matter was that Ruoy had said something out of bounds the other night, and frankly that was pretty easy to believe, but Ruoy refused to apologize for his rash words even when he was all but shoved up to the door, which quickly led to a great loss of respect for the young man. Now when people looked at him, all they saw was a spoiled brat who was fed up with no longer being everybody's favorite Viking prodigy, and Ruoy was all but fed up with it, especially considering this put his position as future Chief of Draak in jeopardy.

Alta, on the other hand, was simply too worried about Hiccup, who had holed himself up in the forge working on whatever it was he was working on. The only time she had ever seen him during those past few days was when he was in the arena, and bringing Alvis along was the only way Hiccup would even pay attention to her at that time. But by the time the afternoon came along and he went back to the forge, she and Alvis would be left out without a word. He had let Toothless in for the past three days but it was only Toothless who got that sort of V.I.P. access from Hiccup, but even knowing how close the two of them were, that still didn't give any answers to the questions bouncing around in anyone's heads. For a couple of days, she had just stood there right outside the door, hoping that he would just put everything down for a moment and tell her if he was upset and what was really bothering him. She had even started to get frustrated a bit and figured she might as well just drag him out against his will, despite how badly he might have smelled from numerous nights' worth of sweat, metal, and charcoal, and just demanded answers. Every time she did, though, she just bit her lip and swallowed it down.

She just cradled Alvis in her arms and continued to stare at the door, expecting him to come at any moment, though she might have known better. If he was bothered, it might have been serious, so chastising really wasn't a good idea as opposed to just talking to him. So she figured, whenever he decided to come out, she would be ready.

"Hiccup, please come out…" she whispered.

Behind the door, Hiccup was hard at work preparing for what may very well be the most important and foolhardy thing he's ever do in his life, which may very well be at risk. He had been crafting a new weapon for himself, a specialized metal bow and a new type of arrows. The arrowheads were formed from the spikes of Deadly Nadders which he had harvested and cleansed of the poison that usually coated them in favor of possessing a not very deadly but still fatal weapon. Of course the tips had been dulled down to make sure targets would not be in danger of the point; what really made these arrows dangerous was the added effect they would have. The arrows were covered in a special type of gel composed of gunpowder and other natural chemicals he had been developing from minerals he had found in the forests and underground with the help of the Whispering Death, and mixing them with wood pulp.

Smeared around the tips of the arrows, when used in conjunction with Toothless's plasma blasts, they could create a serious explosion. Archery was Hiccup's best skill in terms of fighting on his own, although it wasn't really that impressive to anyone on Berk, who ignored the fact that in accordance with their wishes, Hiccup was wielding a weapon of some kind. Quick and fast were Hiccup's thing, as he figured all the brute force in the world didn't mean a thing if an attack couldn't hit, but hey, Vikings, they just figured a big brain would lead to a headache.

Apart from crafting his new weapon, Hiccup had spent the other half of his forge time fixing up Toothless' gear and making a new tailfin for him. This one had an improved design; as opposed to the first hurriedly-crafted one, this one was made of a new lighter leather colored black to blend in with the rest of his body. No one would suspect it was a fake, but honestly, with the fact that this tailfin was as thin as paper, no one would be able to notice on account of Toothless would be going too fast to spot.

Hiccup had also been reworking Toothless's saddle and the foot pedal, making them lightweight but still able to react at a moment's notice – what he was planning to do required as such. He had called Toothless in for measurements, to make sure everything had stacked up, but as far as Toothless knew, it was all for the sake of doing more flying. He had no idea what Hiccup's true intentions were, and frankly, so long as he COULD go flying with Hiccup, he didn't care. All that mattered to Toothless was soaring through the clouds, reveling in the beautiful sight of the sky with his precious Hiccup.

On the seventh day since this back and forth process began, Hiccup had completed his work, but had done so with a heavy heart. Once again he had been keeping secrets from Toothless, from everyone actually, but his best friend at the moment was all he could think about. For all the time they had been on Draak, Hiccup had been warring within himself whether or not to tell Toothless and how to tell about the fact that he had been chosen out of all his peers to kill a dragon in front of the whole of Berk. Every possible approach seemed to end in disaster, though: things never seem to work as he'd planned them, and he was a little worried that such would be the case this time as well. In the end, Hiccup decided to keep the Dragon Training thing a secret for a bit longer and wait until things had really taken off with dragon-human relationships on Draak. As for his current endeavors, though, Toothless was required for them to work, and so Hiccup figured he had to tell the truth this time; there was no getting around it.

Hiccup had finally decided to get a good, full night's sleep before telling Toothless first thing tomorrow morning, which came sooner than he figured, against his wishes to have some more time to properly map out his words. With the first rays of sunlight appearing on the ocean, Hiccup had called Toothless over to just outside the village plaza after his breakfast. Hiccup figured with all the cod Toothless ate, he'd have a little more time to mentally prepare himself for what would happen. Today was to be a turning point in the world's history, as dramatic as it seemed in Hiccup's head, so this was all to necessary.

"Okay, Toothless." He rehearsed to himself in hushed tones while quietly pacing back and forth for the sake of the people still sleeping. Looking around, he saw that he was alone, which was a very good thing; if anyone saw him, they would no doubt demand answers for his behavior or try to talk him out of it once they figured it out. "What I'm going to tell you is really important, and so I need you to pay close attention. I-I know it's dangerous and pretty much a million times more stupid than anything I've ever done in the past, but well… What I mean is someone's gotta do this and it might as well be us since we have the best chance… and, uh… well, I guess I'm saying… we've got a good thing here, right? But if we wanna keep it going, then you have to… we have to…

A deep chirp came from behind him, followed by a soft puff of warm air that felt strong but gentle. Hiccup turned around and would normally feel happy by what he saw, but today, he felt nervous.

"Oh-ho, Toothless." Hiccup chuckled awkwardly as he did. Toothless cocked his head at his boy's strange behavior. '_All right, what's wrong?'_ He seemed to ask.

"Oh, I'm doing great, bud, just great." He said enthusiastically with a voice as hearty as it could be in a whisper before taking a large inhale of the open sea air through his nostrils. "Ah, that morning air smells good; yeah, really doing wonders. I don't think I've felt this good in years." If there was one thing anyone noticed about Hiccup, it was that he was a terrible liar under pressure. The disbelieving, narrowed eyes on Toothless's face emphasized this.

"What? I'm fine, really bud." Hiccup said with a shrug. "Come on, what do you say we go flying? With that new gear of yours I bet we can make 60 miles in three seconds flat." It was an exaggeration on Hiccup's part, although with a Night Fury's speed, he couldn't really know if it was impossible or not. Still, Toothless knew about what was going on in the forge, and he had to wonder how that bow and arrow set fit into a daily flight. Tired of waiting for an answer, Toothless decided to coax it out with a good tail slap to the head. Hiccup gave a small yelp of pain and surprise at the sudden impact.

"What was that for, you oversized salamander?" Hiccup asked angrily, but Toothless's face and the growl that escaped his jaws said it all. '_You're hiding something – what?'_

Hiccup's eyes widened before shutting as he emitted a tired sigh – he should have known Toothless would figure it out. He would be the first to admit that subtlety and a smooth voice were not his strong suits, and his best friend would be able to pick up on what was bothering him instantly. He felt like scolding himself for his behavior – he had promised to tell the truth and now here he was coming up with lies again. A smile crossed his face though, still grateful that Toothless could read him so well and provide the reassurance he needed at that moment.

"Toothless, do you trust me?" He forced himself to ask. He felt disgusted in part to have to ask such an insulting question.

And Toothless seemed just as insulted, his green eyes widened in disbelief. '_How can you ask me that?' _He growled. '_Hiccup, you're my rider, I'd trust you with my life!'_

"Then… I need to ask a really big favor from you…"

"Hiccup?"

A voice called out from out of nowhere, startling both boy and dragon; they look to the source to find Alta standing only a foot away from them. Toothless was especially surprised that the small girl had followed her all the way here without him ever noticing her. Hiccup however, groaned on the inside; he had hoped this could be a one-on-one session with Toothless: as they say, two's company but three's a crowd.

"Alta. W-I, h-how long have you been standing there?" He asked stuttering.

"A week." She replied somewhat bitterly. Hiccup raised an eyebrow, confused at her answer.

"Uh, a week? Don't ya think you get a little tired by now?"

"No, I mean for a whole week I've just been standing around with a door in my face while you've been right behind doing Thor knows what in that forge!" She shouted, although somewhat miraculously no one could hear her it seemed as no one was busting through doors yelling to keep it down. Vikings were pretty heavy sleepers, apparently, though Hiccup wasn't about to take any chances; he keep holding his hands out and shushing her with a finger to his mouth but she just went on.

"Everyone's worried sick about you! Ever since that raid, you've been totally reclusive and you won't talk to anyone about it! Look, if this is about what Ruoy said, I'm sorry, I mean really sorry since I kinda doubted everything you did too. But don't think for one second that no one recognizes what you've done for us, me especially. I always dreamed of something like this happening but I never though it actually would. The least I can do since you're the one who made it all possible is to be there to talk to you if something's wrong, and if Ruoy's involved, I know something's wrong! So, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, WHAT IS WRONG!?"

Hiccup wasn't sure what mortified him more, the fact that she thought he was upset about something as childish as being bullied, or that she announced his problem and his full name to the now-waking village. Public humiliation was nothing new to him, especially if it involved bullying, but the last thing he need was everyone learning about it at once only to laugh at and scoff him off at once. It happened all the time when he was on Berk, and it seemed to be something of a cycle: Snotlout or the twins bullied him, he'd talk to his dad about it who always seemed to be in a public meeting of some kind at the moment, and Stoick would brush him off for him to get even more cold shoulders from the people. The adults were hardly mature about it, making weepy little faces to mock him and laughing at their own stupid impressions: a baby in grown-up clothes, they'd call him. It wasn't right, but Hiccup had at that point been forced to hide any personal problems he might have had in his later years, knowing for a fact tears didn't garner sympathy.

Toothless, on the other hand, was all but shocked: he didn't think it since Hiccup looked fine all the times he'd called him in, but had his boy been hurt or was upset in some way? In his self-appointed role as Hiccup's guardian, Toothless knew part of his job was to comfort Hiccup when he needed it, an assignment Toothless always made sure to complete without hesitation. He could see it written all over Hiccup's face whenever he came to the cove, behind the joyful gleam in his vibrant forest green eyes how in pain he was, how lonely he had been; he had never forgotten what Hiccup said about being fed-up with his life back on that despicable little rock with all those 'people' who apparently didn't care who they hurt.

If he could, he'd go back there and become death itself, sending all those monsters in human skin to their deserved graves. He knew Hiccup had been keeping _some_ kind of secret ever since the day they'd arrived on Draak, but kept his distance in the hope that his little human brother, who seemed to finally be coming out of his shell in helping dragons make a life here, would come up to him himself: the question is, why didn't he want to talk?

Toothless slowly nudged Hiccup on the arm and let out a worried whimper before pulling away a smidge, ready for any kind of emotional dam to break. '_Is something hurting you? Hiccup, you can always talk to me about it, you know that. I do trust you, but do you trust me?'_ Hiccup subconsciously pet Toothless while keeping his eyes on Alta. "Alta, no, come on. That's not what this is about."

"Then what is it? What are you hiding?" She asked.

"I-It's just… okay, yeah, I guess it is something that Ruoy said after the raid, but-"

"I KNEW IT!" She shrieked. "When I get my hands on that piece of dragon dung…" She clenched her hands around an invisible victim, more than likely the neck of an imaginary Ruoy. Toothless was snarling with a small amount of gas leaking from his sharp jaws, muttering some dragon curse of some kind. It was obvious they were both thinking of suitable punishments for Ruoy, the contents of which were far too graphic to even mention.

"No-h-h-hold on a second! It's not that!" Hiccup tried to placate them both. "I mean, yeah, he was being typical Ruoy, but it was just… something he said got me thinking. Yeah, we stopped the raid, but that's not like it never happened, even if Draak got off scot-free."

Both girl and dragon stared at him as he continued, confusion etched on both of their faces. "Though we've brought dragons in to live with us, that doesn't mean other dragons will call it quits on the fighting too. Vikings, trappers, hunters, they won't stop, either, not until the streets are lined with dragon carcasses and we're drinking blood out of our mugs, which sounds gross, but it's a distinct possibility. And I-I'm sick of it, I'm sick of people fighting and dying for stupid things like honor and glory – those don't mean a thing if you're dead. So I'm going to put an end to it."

After a long pause, Alta asked rather cautiously. "And how exactly are you going to do that?" Hiccup only stared at her resolutely, and the answer he gave was the last thing either her or Toothless ever expected.

"I'm going to find the dragon's nest."

Toothless's eyes just bulged and his jaw dropped to the ground in shock and fear – THAT'S what this was all about, Hiccup wanted to find the nest? No, absolutely not, Toothless decided, he had _no idea_ what was there, waiting for someone foolish enough to approach. Going there would spell certain doom for Hiccup, if _she_ had anything to say about it.

Alta's face was just as incredulous, but unlike Toothless, she had managed to muster up enough nerve to reply back. "The nest? The same nest that Vikings have been looking for since sailing to these islands centuries ago and are still looking for now. What makes you think you've got any better of a chance than my dad, your dad, or the other chiefs?"

Hiccup gestured a hand to the still in-shock dragon next to him. "Cause I've got him." That seemed to wake the dragon up as he turned his head to look at his well-meaning but stupid boy.

"Toothless? What does he have to do with it?" Alta asked.

"Think about it, it's a dragon nest, so wouldn't it make sense that only dragons could find it. My dad said the nest is somewhere near Helheim's Gate but that place is covered with a thick bog that no one can sail through. The dragons can navigate through it; if Toothless can take me there and I can find out what's going on, why they raid us…"

"What do you mean, 'why they raid us?' Everyone knows they want our food." Alta raised an eyebrow perplexed.

"Yeah, but if food was all they wanted, they could just get it out of the ocean. When they say 'there's plenty of fish in the sea,' they aren't just talking about dating! Why steal from us when there's a more abundant and safer source of food… e-everywhere else?" He waved his arms around to emphasize his point. Not that it wasn't strong already, there were millions of fish in the ocean, why only steal the ones that Vikings caught? It wasn't like they were lazy or anything, evidenced by how they were willing to fight, and their strong features made them excellent hunters by nature.

"Okay, but exactly what is it you expect to find there? What makes you think there's some big secret as to why they raid us at the nest at all?" Alta just seemed to be getting more and more confused. For all she knew, there were just a bunch of dragons and a huge pile of stolen food and animals. Nothing more.

"There HAS to be something! Dragons are amazing, kind, and loyal creatures: I can't believe they'd attack us just because they want free food!" Hiccup shouted, startling Alta so much she stepped back a bit. Toothless already had the answer he was looking for, though, and he didn't want Hiccup to find it for himself. At that moment, he jumped right in front of Hiccup and let loose a roar flooded with fear. At that point, people must have been deaf not to hear what was going on.

Hiccup was so startled he actually fell over to the ground. "Ah! Toothless, what is wrong with you!?"

'_What's wrong with ME? You're insane to want to go there!' _Toothless barked out frantically, though Hiccup could see that though Toothless was scolding him about something, he looked more scared than angry. '_You go there and _SHE'LL_ eat you alive! I am not about to let you throw away your life – I am not about to lose my best friend to that monster just for some stupid stunt of heroism!'_

"Toothless, just calm down bud!" Hiccup ordered, but it was no use. Toothless was hysterical with the terror of losing the person that meant the world to him, flapping his wings and bouncing around like that fear was a set of chains binding him to the ground when he wanted to take off and fly. Why couldn't he understand that he was just trying to protect him, that the farther they were away from that place, the better? Besides, Toothless didn't want her anywhere near himself, either, still remembering the grip she had had on him. "Will you stop freaking out? I need you to do this!"

'_I will not stop 'freaking out' until you drop this whole thing! Hiccup, please, I'm begging you, don't do this! Let's just stay here forever and forget about it all, just live here where no one can keep us apart! Please, PLEASE, I can't lose you to her!'_

"TOOTHLESS!"

There was that voice of Hiccup's again, the voice of pure power that seemed to stop time and silence nature – a voice like that seemed out of place in the body of such a small, young boy. Nevertheless, the panic stopped instantly, even if the fear still remained in its entirety, Toothless's eyes two wide pools of fear and sadness. It was the first time the Night Fury, the mighty beast feared by human and dragon alike, wanted to cry, but Hiccup only held his head and placed his forehead on his.

"Toothless, do you trust me?" He asked in a whisper.

'_Of course I do, but I just… I-I can't… I want you with me, safe and happy.' _The whole statement came out as a single, sorrowful whimper.

"I want you with me too, bud," Hiccup answered back, unaware in that moment that he and Toothless had suddenly reached a higher level in their connection. He was completely oblivious to the fact that he was now hearing his dragon's thoughts in his head and in his heart, reverberating through him as some soundless echo with the voice little more than a feeling. "And this is the only way we can make it happen. I don't want to keep wondering if today might be the last day I ever see you. I swore to protect the dragons, and I want to protect you too… you have to let me."

'_But I'M the one who's supposed to be protecting YOU! And how is throwing your life away supposed to keep me safe?'_

"Toothless, I'm not about to throw my life away; whatever's waiting for me there, I'll face it. But I need you at my side, bud, protecting me like you always do. Will you stand with me, now, bud?" Hiccup had asked many questions like this to his father, or at the very least he wanted to. He needed to know if his father ever loved him, but each time he was met with silence, completely ignored. And Hiccup just accepted it, however sadly each time. This time was different, however; with a hard stare, Hiccup would not walk away without an answer, more specifically the one he needed to hear. And Toothless knew it.

'… _Yes. I will. I will stand with you whatever path you walk, brother. I will protect you always…' _Toothless answered with a small growl.

For mere moments the two stood just looking into each other's eyes, finding nothing but hardened determination in the form of emerald green blazes that converged into a flame that burned the world. The two now stood as one, ready to face destiny's challenge issued to them. Hiccup then turned to see Alta, who had merely watched the whole undertaking in silence. For a moment, Hiccup could not think of anything to say, save for the familiar words he had told her on that day in the Kill Ring.

"Alta, this is something I have to do. Something only Toothless and I can do."

Alta could only nod in response, every last word of complaint or argument lost to her at the look in his eyes. Seeing this different Hiccup time and time again always sparked something in her, something that was far more than the mere defiance of the norm that she had. This was a defiance of reality, and the resolve to change it. It put butterflies in her stomach, and made her sweat slightly, leaving her confused at her conflicting feelings.

Hiccup nodded in turn and went to pick up his bow and bag of arrows that he slung onto his back. With them and a customized smaller shield equipped to his right arm, he boarded Toothless, placing his foot onto the pedal to engage the tailfin, and with that Toothless lifted off into the sky. They turned back for a moment and hovered in the air as Hiccup looked to her.

"Take care of Alvis for me. I'll be back," was all he said before they shot off in the direction of Helheim's Gate. It was only a few seconds before they were completely out of sight.

For a whole ten minutes she just stood there, watching the very spot where they had vanished in the sky. By now, everyone had come out of their houses, ready to start the day, but grew confused and worried when they just saw her standing there like a statue, unmoving. Her father, Woh, and another boy with brown hair with dirty blond highlights dressed in a simple tunic and a scarf and hood attached came up to her, Hairke shook her slightly to snap her out of her daze.

"Dad, Woh, Nogard." She was surprised to see her two friends out of their houses for once. It seemed that plenty of people were showing changes.

"Alta, sweetheart, what is it?" Hairke asked, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. She only looked down to the ground like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"You were causing… quite a ruckus, you know," said the boy Nogard rather timidly. "I heard people were about ready to throw pots and pans out the window." Alta only chuckled – so they DID hear all that.

"Alta, where's… where's Hiccup?" Woh asked.

"With that the smile faded and a tear fell down her face. For a moment she was afraid to say it, but there could be no denying the truth now. These people, much less her father, wouldn't accept any half-hearted response. She took a deep breath and just let the words out.

"He's gone…"

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><p>Hiccup and Toothless had been flying for an hour or so, nothing but the open sea surrounding them. By now they were somewhere in between Draak and Helheim's Gate, where the nest was lying in wait. Hiccup didn't show it, but the fatigue from several nights of work on his meager arsenal was starting to wear down on him, and he could barely keep his eyes open. Every so often, his grip on the saddle loosened a bit, and he wobbled slightly, before snapping back to reality. As if Toothless wasn't worried enough, here Hiccup was about to fight some unseen enemy and he looked like he would keel over at any second.<p>

Toothless growled: if Hiccup was going to risk his life on some fool's errand, he should at least be fully awake for it. He swooped down to the ocean, just inches above the ice cold seawater, and quick as an arrow, he swiped his tail over it, narrowly missing his face as he splashed the water in his face. Hiccup spat and sputtered, now wide awake as a result. He shook his head free of any remaining water and glared at his draconic steed.

"Toothless, what are you-" But a lecturing stare back from the dragon's turned head and a slight smirk on his face told him everything. Hiccup's glare melted away and a small smile formed on his lips.

Hiccup gave Toothless a hard pet on the head, managing to get a small wince from the Night Fury. "Thanks, but you know I'm gonna get you back for that, bud." The smirk on Toothless's face just remained, if not grew larger. '_I'd like to see you try, fishbone_,' His still rather warm look jokingly said.

The boy's smile soon faded. "Toothless, I'm not crazy, am I?" Toothless gave a disbelieving look at Hiccup's sudden question. "Okay, yeah, I am, but… am I crazy to think that there's something there at the nest? I want to believe more than anything that dragons don't attack us without a reason. They call you mindless beasts, but I know that's not true. There must be some giant, evil… thing… forcing you to do this; I know it."

Toothless frowned – Hiccup didn't know how right he was, and he had yet to see the answer for himself. A small coo reassured Hiccup in some way, and he pet Toothless head again, this time more gently.

"Thanks bud. I don't know where I'd be without you." Hiccup smiled sadly. Such comforts from his friends only made him guiltier about the fact that he still kept the thing with the Monstrous Nightmare a secret. That was it then, Hiccup thought, no more secrets – as soon as this was over, he would force himself to tell Toothless what would happen. If Toothless got angry, so be it, he deserved as much for hiding it for so long. At the very least though, he wanted Toothless to know his feelings on the matter; a faint hope, but maybe it would lessen Toothless's possible anger.

Toothless saw that Hiccup was debating something within himself – his boy seemed to be doing that a lot lately. And frankly, he was getting tired of it; he thought wanting to find the nest was the end of it, but how could he forget the hesitance he showed when they first met Alta? Whatever kind of secrets Hiccup was hiding, Toothless figured it was about time to get them out, though he knew with Hiccup, it was best, preferred by both, to get them out as gently as possible.

'_Hiccup-"_

But suddenly a strange sound reached his ears, a low hypnotic hum that seemed alien in nature; it reached out into his head and started to take hold of every one of his senses. Toothless's ear plates lifted up in response and his pupils thinned to slits in response to the sound. He turned his head left and right, forced to hone on the din's call pulling on him more and more.

"Toothless, bud, what's happening?" Hiccup asked, suddenly worried.

But the Night Fury's only answer came in the form of an abrupt dive into a thick cover of fog that appeared out of nowhere. Hiccup looked all around and saw nothing but the thick clouds all around him, the morning sunrise completely blocked from view. In the back of his mind, Hiccup felt the strange familiarity of the setting, the recounted tales for surviving sailors of the thick fog where seafaring vessels encountered their dooms. A sudden feeling of apprehension bubbled up from the pit of his chest: Hiccup knew the danger started now.

A familiar roar came to Hiccup's left, and he looked to see a Monstrous Nightmare appear from the rolling clouds. Hiccup ducked down as low as he could until his chest was directly against Toothless's hide; thankfully, the dragon didn't seem to notice him as it just continued on its path, heading in the same direction they were. Hiccup groaned internally at the sight of the Nightmare; in his ever-increasing panic, here was the last dragon he wanted to see flying right next to him. For a second he wondered if in his current state he might just blurt out the truth for everyone to hear and give away his position atop Toothless. Whether it would have happened or not, Hiccup was suddenly silenced as another dragon, a Zippleback, appeared on the right and the two wild dragons boxed the duo in.

Hiccup only became more alarmed as at that moment, several other tens of wild dragons came out of nowhere, simply appearing like spirits or phantoms, out of the clouds. The air was now filled with the sounds of chirps, growls, trills, and barks as the numerous winged reptiles continued forward. It was not long before tens became hundreds, and soon enough Hiccup could not even look in any direction without seeing five or eight dragons in that spot. Were he the small child forced to cower in fear inside the walls of his old home on Berk, Hiccup would have been terrified to tears at the sight of so many potential killers all around him, but through some miracle he had managed to keep it together.

It was then when he looked back to that first Nightmare to the left of him that he finally saw the large yak clutched in its talons, long dead and punctured by its captor/killer's long talons. He looked around and saw that all the dragons were carrying various kinds of fish and wild game such as boars, sheep, or yaks in their mouths or claws. He guessed that they might have possibly been raiders from other, more far off islands, taking so long to return home due to injuries sustained from battles against the Vikings or the distance from those islands to the nest.

These dragons were hauling in their kill, so what did that make him? He pat Toothless's head and rubbed it to get his attention as quick as possible. "Toothless, you gotta get us out of here, bud." But Toothless only shook his head, batting Hiccup's hand away and continued on, his ear flaps still alternating to hone in on the source of the strange sound.

It was only a few moments more that the dragons' wing beats became synchronized with each other, their flaps all occurring at the exact same time and their speeds all equaled out. The dragons all banked and dived in formation, Hiccup holding tightly onto Toothless's saddle, back to near sea level, all effortlessly weaving through the sea stacks that to Hiccup appeared right at the last second. Toothless swung to the left and right, narrowly dodging the natural pillars and swooping through the rock hoops along with the others.

Finally they had reached the base of a large island with a massive volcanic caldera; even in the daytime it glowed with small rivulets of lava placed all over the sides of the towering fortress. Hiccup could only imagine at the sight of this place how ominous it would look in the dead of night. The numerous dragons all fell into rank, almost a straight line as they funneled into a large crack in the mountain into a dark winding tunnel. Stalactites hung from the high ceiling above and similar protrusions came out at all sides of them, yet the dragons zipped through as if no such obstructions were there. The dragons all split their lines past pillars in the tunnel that reached the ground and dipped and rose over the stacks, until they finally reached their destination. And what Hiccup saw at the end of it shocked him to the core.

Past the tunnel's opening was a vast, smoky inner chamber lined on all sides with pocketed, shelf-like cliffs where numerous more dragons laid in hordes watching the new arrivals. There was every breed of dragon in that place: Hiccup could see Nadders, Terrors, Gronkles, Zipplebacks, Nightmares, Whispering Deaths, Changewings, Snaptrappers, Scauldrons, Thunderdrums, and even rarer breeds such as Fireworms, Flightmares, Timberjacks, as well as a Skrill here and there. The only thing he could think of in response to all the dragons here was that they had finally reached their destination. Here they were, at the dragon's nest.

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this…" Hiccup whispered.

He watched as all the dragons dumped their collective catches down into the large red pit below them, the earnings vanishing into the thick smoke that layered the bottom of the cave. The fear that once existed in Hiccup's chest was now replaced with confusion: why were they dumping everything down a hole? Why not eat it since they had worked so hard to get it? Was it possible they were storing food for harsher weather as the Vikings did? If so, then Hiccup had to hand it to them, these so-called 'mindless beasts' were much smarter than anyone gave them credit.

By now Toothless had regained his senses and, realizing where they were, quickly pulled away from the succession of dragons to land on a cliff shelf completely coated in shadows. He peeked out his head from behind the rock wall, hoping to keep himself, and more importantly Hiccup, as out-of sight as possible. He looked up a tiny bit and saw that Hiccup had done the same though; together they watched the proceedings of the nest continue on before all the dragons perched themselves on the cliffs having given their offerings.

Hiccup couldn't for the life of him figure it out why the dragons were simply storing the food instead of eating it right away. With the ravenous appetites he had seen in most dragons it would be more logical for them to just dive in the pile. As he figured before, if they need more food, they should have just gone fishing in the sea for more. It's not like there wasn't enough for everyone.

His answer came as soon as the last arrival buzzed in: a rather slow-witted looking Gronkle, who just stumbled in the air flying rather slowly over the pit. It opened its large rumbling mouth like a machine and out it regurgitated a single, solitary fish, the slick saliva keeping it sliding down until it like all the other food vanished down into the red smoke. The Gronkle rumbled and scratched behind its ear with its hind leg in contentment, until a low-sounding terrible roar came from underneath. The Gronkle could sense something wrong, even with its limited intelligence, but as it tried to flee, an enormous set of jaws jumped up from the pit and snapped shut around the poor beast, swallowing it whole.

Hiccup jumped back with an audible gasp behind the cliff again, with Toothless not even reacting to the sight. The other dragons, however, were not as hardened, and began to cower into the rock pockets, shuffling their claws and scrunched up and huddled close to each other in pure terror. She was angered at the petty contribution, and her hunger had not been appeased.

The behemoth sniffed the air around them, a faint, repugnant scent in the air, and turned to the cliff where her greatest warrior, the Night Fury, stood cloaked by the darkness. Hiccup grasped the cliff like a lifeline with clutching fingers while hyperventilating, his skin caked with sweat and his eyes bulging with fear. What WAS that thing, that huge monster? Was it even a dragon? It swallowed another dragon with a single bite; Hiccup for a moment imagined if this gargantuan creature appeared in Berk or Draak. No doubt it could crush the entire village and everyone in it with a single stomp. He had failed to notice the giant creature drawing closer and closer, still attempting to identify the stench that now filled her palace of stone and fire. Her six eyes widened and turned into slits with savage delight – it was the scent of a human. Her Night Fury had brought her a human to devour – it had been so long since she had experienced the taste, she always reveled in the aroma and the flavor of human meat and blood.

Toothless was not going to give up his friend so easily; he jumped out of the way and took flight as the queen snapped her jaws, not caring if she had devoured him along with his 'offering.' The sudden movement snapped Hiccup's attention back to the present as he grasped the saddle with all his might. She roared back to him with enough force to shake the chamber walls, apparently asking for the meaning of his defiance. Toothless roared in response his declaration of defiance and independence, only for the queen to roar in anger, with so much force that a few stalactites actually came down around them. How dare she betray him! And for what, a human worm? The Night Fury would pay for his foolishness with his life – she would enjoy devouring him.

It was then that everything made sense to Hiccup, all the clues coming together in his mind like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle as he looked at the massive creature. What he was witnessing was a monarchy of sorts, almost like a massive beehive; the dragons in the cliffs were the workers and the massive one preparing to eat them… was the Queen. This monster had been FORCING the dragons to raid from Viking villages and other human settlements, been made to kill people and poison humanity's view of them, all to feed her insatiable hunger. If she wasn't satisfied, she would simply devour those who failed her; Hiccup had thought the dragons had it bad before, but nothing like this, either being slayed by Vikings or eaten alive by this demonic tyrant. It was a question of who got killed now and who got killed latter.

What was once fear became uncontrollable fury in Hiccup as he clenched his fists so hard his nails began to draw blood from the palm of his hand. He clenched his teeth in anger and stared daggers at the creature beneath him, a symbol of evil that truly did exist in the world. Such an abuse of power was unforgivable: because of her, good dragons and people had lost their lives, sacrificed themselves needlessly just so she could get a free meal. With every fiber in his body, he let loose a scream of pure hate at her. "UNGODLY DEVIL! YOUR REIGN ENDS HERE, AND THIS WAR WILL END WITH IT!" Toothless conveyed the same message in a roar ten times as terrifying and deafening as the one he had done to Hiccup on the first day they met. This foul creature would meet its end at their hands, here and now.

The dragons took this as their cue to leave, debating what they feared more, the human and Night Fury pair or the enraged queen they had just challenged. They ascended in spiral formation to the hole at the top of the chamber that spelled their only means of escape and freedom. The Queen, enraged at the arrogance of these two insects before it and at the cowardice of her subjects, lunged at the boy and Night Fury, only for them to swoop down below to the bottom of the pit.

Toothless flew down deeper and deeper, avoiding the rock bridges and pillars that came out of nowhere through the thick smog as he did so, swerving left, right, and straightening out before descending more. The queen would not let them escape, she would bear down on them with her full might, and she let loose her hypnotic trills again to the massive exodus of dragons above. The dragons fell under her spell all at once and charged down as a combined volley of scales and claws at their new target.

Some had split apart from the ranks and banked Toothless and Hiccup on both sides, but Toothless let loose a plasma blast at several of them, knocking them down to the rocks all around. Another came from right behind him, but Toothless let loose one more plasma blast at the rock above them, creating a rock shower that flattened several of their pursuers. The Nadders began to fire a huge rain of quills down at them, but Hiccup took action immediately, readying his bow and shooting three arrows towards oncoming fire blasts from the Nightmares and Fireworms, detonating the gel coating the arrow and creating explosions that neutralized the quills and shook the rock pillars, causing more rocks to fall down on the now disoriented dragons. Hiccup mentally applauded himself for such unerring accuracy in his shots while on the back of such a fast-moving dragon.

They had eventually reached the lowest level of the pit in no time at all, swooping over a small landmass to come across a large lake of magma, with lava pouring down through multiple openings in the rock formations and the large body of the Queen, rising out from the lava. The heat was sweltering to Hiccup, feeling as if his skin was going to melt off, but he kept his cool in the face of all the dragons still following them. Toothless barrel-rolled out of the way as several dragons charged down at him and shot their fire blasts at him, while narrowly dodging the debris that came crashing down with a huge splash into the magma as the Queen swing her large claw into the wall. Toothless banked up to avoid a particularly large piece and the slashes of lava that managed to hit the other dragons, who came out relatively unharmed due to their heat-resistant scales.

Toothless dived down below, dodging the massive rock clusters and the lava pouring out in thick amounts above from them as he did so with slight swerves, when more dragons appeared in front of them. Hiccup fired more of his arrows at them one by one, which thanks to the large amount of heat emitted by the lava, set them off instantly, exploding against the dragons' hides and knocking them back into the lava. They tilted sideways and flew around past more magma falls while dodging more blasts, zooming past two dragons who were shot down by more of Hiccup's arrows.

"Sorry!" Hiccup quickly apologized to the dragons who were flailing about in the lava just as he did in the water when he was first learning to swim and his dad tossed him in. They were being controlled, Hiccup reasoned, so they weren't responsible for their actions.

By now they had leveled out just above them magma, and reacted quickly by swerving and barrel rolling when numerous sports of magma erupted from beneath them. The pressure caused by the movements of the Queen twirling around trying to follow them was causing some kind of pressure build-up, and the power the sports were emitting was massive. It took all Hiccup had to keep control as Toothless spun and twirled past each of the sports, not even letting a single drop of the molten rock touch him or Hiccup. The Queen's sinister gaze above watched their movements and let out an alternate sound to before, issuing out a new command.

At that point the serpentine Whispering Deaths and the Tidal-class Scauldrons and Thunderdrums dove into the lava; Hiccup just watched wondering why she would send her own subjects into the lava. Again, a quick answer came as the dragons emerged from the magma and from all directions and unleashed blasts of fire rings, sonic screams, and burning water streams, which Toothless dodged all of by turning sharply into the air and looping around before coming back down to see the dragons dive into the magma again. They continued to come out one by one, launching more sneak attacks as they did so, but Toothless just flapped and jerked around in the air, even making loops of smaller size as he did before. Toothless fired another volley of plasma blasts, targeting weak spots on a few Whispering Deaths and Thunderdrums, and all of which hit their mark, knocking out the dragons and sending them plummeting into the water.

Another Whispering Death and two Scauldrons came out forward at once, and Hiccup and Toothless responded by firing their shots at the same time: Hiccup drawing his arrow as Toothless charged his plasma blast, and the two released their shots at the exact same moment. The two attacks came in close to each other until they collided together, the result being a series of explosions that knocked all the dragons away. "All right, bud! That's what I call teamwork!" Hiccup praised with a pat to Toothless's head, which the dragon replied to with a prideful, happy bark. They circled around a large rock sticking out from the magma pool next to the Queen's body when the last of the sneak attackers came out, Toothless firing more plasma blasts at them as they attempted to circle around their prey, sending them hurdling through the rocks nearby and taking them out.

By now, most of the Queen's forces had been expended, and so Hiccup began looking for a weak point on her body to attack, but her hide seemed to be heavily armored, no such spots presented themselves. They flew and tilted past another set of rock formations while the Queen crashed her paw into the wall again sending more debris down, which Toothless cleared out with a couple of plasma blasts to get rid of the larger pieces, while Hiccup eliminated the smaller pieces with the last of his arrows, and just dodging whatever remained.

They ducked under a low-level rock formation while staying slightly above the magma now to avoid any more rock falls before getting through the makeshift path and flying up again. By now Toothless picked up more speed after narrowly avoiding a surprise paw-slam from the Queen that punctured a hole in the cavern wall and alternated altitudes in the small space while dodging more lava falls with split second timing and reflexes.

The poisonous gases of the lava below began to spread and swirl throughout the area while the Queen continued to move around and destroy more of her own chamber, and Hiccup had to cover his mouth with his tunic to keep from inhaling them. He was now drenched with sweat as they passed through two small streams of magma and he was on the edge throughout this whole battle, but he was ready to keep going, forcing himself to if need be.

One final challenger suddenly appeared behind them – a Skrill, the second most dangerous dragon next to the Night Fury itself, and hovered over them shooting blasts of white-hot lightning at them. They narrowly managed to dodge the blasts and the explosions that came as a result of them hitting the walls while moving through a hole in a rock face with more magma flows while the Skrill remained in red-hot pursuit of them. A second blast of lightning from it managed to knock away Hiccup's shield, ripping it from his arm and sending it to its fiery end in the magma; Hiccup watched clutching his now burned arm as the shield caught on fire and sunk into the fiery liquid.

Another slam in the wall, this time from the Queen's tail, gave Hiccup and Toothless the advantage they needed, ascending over a rock bridge before Toothless opened his wings and pulled back so they were now chasing the Skrill. The former predator wanted to get back its original position but found itself unable to as they approached another low level passage. Toothless fired another plasma blast to knock out some more rocks at the ceiling just above the Skrill, but it charged its own wings with lightning and shot through them all before they could reach it, leaving the dodging to Toothless as his own shot backfired on him. Needing to conserve the few shots he figured they still had, Hiccup kept Toothless steady while they rolled, jerked, and swung past each and every boulder.

They had now reached the low passage, and the two flew straight forward despite the trembling earth bursting with heavy falls of lava. The sparks that emitted from the Skrill's wings caused even more boulders to fall with fierce explosions all around, destabilizing the rock and threatening to seal off the passageway. But Toothless sped on, pumping his wings and quickly catching up to the Skrill. A few more plasma blasts at it, and though the first two only slightly nicked it, the third was dead center and sent the Skrill into the lava. The two flew throw the opening at the end and shot upward to face the Queen directly.

They stared at its hideous maw with pure hate and anger in their eyes before Hiccup looked down at all the dragons they had been forced to battle. None of them appeared particularly injured, but they all still seemed hurt and they were shaking their heads, trying to free themselves of the Queen's horrifying whispers in their minds. In rage he looked back up to the Queen.

"What's the matter, can't fight your own battles? Let's settle this, just you and us!" He screamed with venom towards the monster. Toothless called out the same challenge with another roar with no shortage of that similar venom in his own call. '_You're left with NOTHING! Let's see how you stack up against the Night Fury! Try to take my boy, IF YOU CAN!'_

By now the Queen was completely outraged, her sight through her six small eyeballs lined with red. She began to shift slightly in her position and rise up in the lava and placed both her forepaws on the ground with a thunderous crash that sent the perch where the two of them stood at the start plummeting shattered into the magma below. She screamed in primal fury at them, accepting the challenge.

"What do you say, bud? Why don't we take this outside?" Hiccup asked angrily, still looking at the Queen. Toothless barked angrily in response, and the two made a race for the open passage that they first came through, the Queen hot on their trail. They made the same movements through all of the obstacles, ducking past the stalagmites and tilting to zoom through the columns.

The Queen didn't need such fancy aerobatic maneuvers, her large body powerful enough to charge through the tunnel and destroy the rock before her without any effort. She crawled through the tunnel as fast as her obese body could manage, never taking her eyes off the insolent pair before her. Toothless turned his head to unleash a plasma blast that hit her right in the face out of pure insult, enraging her further.

At the speed they were going, only a few minutes passed before they reached the opening out and were exposed to the open air. Hiccup and Toothless both gained their bearing and inhaled the fresh air free of the noxious fumes from the melted rock. Sadly the loud crack behind them didn't give them any more time to rest. They turned around to see the cliff face break apart and rocks cascade to the ground in an avalanche as the Queen smashed her way through, squirming like a mouse in a hole to get out as quickly as she could. As the dust cleared, the Red Death stood, with a haunting, bellowing roar she swore to devour her opponents and surely make it as painful as possible.

Hiccup and Toothless stood their ground, ready for the final battle. No matter how this war ended, it ended today.

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><p><strong>Review, favorite, follow! Next chapter is the epic one on one conclusion! <strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**The big one on one battle between Hiccup and Toothless and the Red Death. I hope you guys have enjoyed these original chapters and I hope that they've added a little something extra to the story. **

**Sauara: Hiccup still feels some kind of familial bond with Stoick; that's just his character, he is something of a forgiving person. However, at this point he speaks mostly in terms of blood relationships – any sort of familial connection at this point is near lost. He acknowledges that their father and son physically, but that's really the only thing driving him to call him as such.**

**KaliAnn: Thanks for the compliments, I did have these sorts of ideas as I continued to read the original story. And as for more Hiccup/Alvis stuff, there's going to be plenty more of that later on.**

**Inquisitor0: There are going to be witnesses, as stated in this chapter, but we'll be putting Berk aside for now. I'm just focusing on Hiccup and Draak at this moment.**

**All right, get ready for the big one: action, drama, the works, all wrapped up in an 11,000 word chapter. BTW, if the action cene, when you play it in your heads, seems familiar… well, I'll just say it. I am pretty bad at coming up with action scenes on my own. I take it from something else and tweak it up a bit. Hope you readers don't mind. **

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>Back on Draak, the sun had long since risen and the town had resumed its normal hustle and bustle, adults training, women taking care of the children, work at the forge going strong, people getting a mug of mead and whatever else. Save for the dragons that were also roaming around getting their own meals or finding a new place in the sun to take a nap, everything was as it had always been. It was some kind of unfamiliar norm to everyone, but given that they had two months to adapt to it, no one was particularly uncomfortable. Still, past all the intimidation at living so close with their former enemies, some truly had wondered what it was like looking down on the world, seeing everything from their point of view, as that one boy who made it all possible did.<p>

Three hours had passed since Hiccup's departure, and now that the village knew what was happening, the atmosphere around the Bone Head village was stifling. People carried on their activities a bit more solemnly than they usually would, wondering if the kid, smaller than any normal Viking, would be able to pull it off. Then again, just what was it he was going to pull off anyway, besides just taking care of a large group of dragons all at once and bringing them over? Aside from the challenge in numbers, no one knew what it exactly was that Hiccup needed to go to the nest to do that he couldn't do here. But that boy was a thinker, and like any warrior, he trusted his instincts, and they told him that there was something else. He truly saw the dragons as innocent, and the Bone Heads in stark contrast to their names were no fools: they had seen it too. Human beings accept something as truth once it was presented before their own eyes – it was a natural trait for them to be catered so.

Alta, of course, was one of the few beside Hiccup who had seized that truth for herself; she always viewed dragons as incredible creatures. Granted, she didn't try to reach out to them and bond with them as Hiccup did, but she still admired them from a distance. She had always seen and done things from afar, watching but never really interacting. Perhaps that was one more reason people referred to her as 'The Dreamer.'

This time was no different – she was just standing on the edge of town, watching the same exact spot where Hiccup and Toothless flew off to the nest. She had skipped breakfast and every other offer of food and rest from her father and her friends, just continuing to stand, never moving from that spot. The other teens of Draak had been watching her unmoving form, wondering how to even get a single response from her, break her from this waiting spell that held her. Without a word, Nogard wandered up to her side and watched the same spot with her, just letting the ocean breeze hit their faces and slash small drops of water on them.

"He's coming back, you know." Nogard said all of a sudden. Alta merely remained silent. "Dragons seem to have a thing for him, especially that Night Fury. Compared to that, what's some random, run-of-the-mill dragon?"

Again, Alta said nothing, her eyes still transfixed on the exact same spot, her long black hair coming undone and flowing smoothly in the wind. Nogard merely looked at her expecting some kind of response, but his hope was shattered as her face remained as unreadable as ever. "Alta, that guy had big dreams, and the talents to back it up. I seriously doubt he'd just leave the place where he had a real chance to make it happen, certainly not after everything he's accomplished."

"How do you know?" She asked looking to the ground. Nogard gasped silently, startled at the first words she had spoken since Hiccup left.

"W-What do you mean?" Asked Nogard shyly.

"He abandoned one tribe, who's to say he didn't abandon another? Sure he was no small-time thinker, but he wasn't really the type to stay in one place for long either." She was grasping for her elbow, squeezing it as hard as she could. The words she spoke suggested some kind of anger at Hiccup for whatever reason, perhaps his near wordless departure that seemed to pass for abandonment as she said. Alta didn't mean it, but her heart had been damaged, and the statement just burst out of her mouth.

"So, you think he just left us?" Another voice sounded from behind. This time, it was Niart, who had been standing near Woh, who had Alvis cradled in her arms sound asleep. Even Ruoy was there, with a grumpy expression and arms folded, keeping to himself.

"He had the chance and the means, didn't he? Really, he could have left at any time!" Alta finally moved as she turned back to scream at all of them, making them visibly jump back. Even her father was startled by her quick movements.

"Just because he had the chance… doesn't mean he had to take it." Niart countered. Alta's eyes widened at this.

"Think about it, Alta, remember the story he told you? About how he met Toothless on Berk?" Nogard asked from behind her. She did remember when Hiccup told her about that day, it was something she would never forget – what may have been the most foolhardy decision any Viking ever made. Hiccup had Toothless right where he wanted him, bound and immobile on the ground, completely vulnerable and helpless, resigned to meet his end at the hands of the first Viking that found him.

He would have gained everything he ever wanted, status, respect, the pride of his father, but Hiccup in the end rejected his greatest desires, perhaps against his better judgment, and freed Toothless. Really, everything that had happened since then was possible because of that – if Hiccup had never turned down that golden opportunity, they never would have met.

"Anyone else in his spot at that moment would have done it-"

"I know _I_ would've!" Ruoy bragged from behind, but a quick glare from everyone, even Niart, who had had enough of Ruoy's attitude and all but abandoned him after his jealous rant a week ago, shut him up.

"-But he didn't. I'd say that takes some major guts, doing your own thing instead of following what everyone tells you." Nogard continued. He and the other teens, like their parents, had been born and raised hating dragons, following in the footsteps of those that came before them. Every decision they made was on a path set for them by their Viking ancestors that battled centuries ago. Hiccup was the only one willing to follow his own path, make his own footsteps for others to follow – such a person could only be greatly respected. Deep down, they dearly wished they could have the courage to make the choices he did, even the adults. Running away as he did wasn't cowardice, it was bravery.

"And now, here we are doing things the Hiccup way. It's been working for us so far, hasn't it?" Nogard asked chuckling.

Alta went silent for a moment before looking back to the ocean, trying to think of something to say but couldn't form any kind of idea or the words to speak it with. For the longest time, she had wondered what it was that could drive Hiccup to do what no one else had ever even considered doing in training and riding a dragon. In the time she had spent together, she had always wanted to ask, but the opportunity never arose, and the want, the need, only grew as time passed. Funny, she figured; the old Alta would never just let it be, but she wondered if now she could be like him and forget about what she wanted just for a moment, and accept things as they were now.

"Really, I'm lost here," Woh replied, breaking the tense moment and snapping Alta out of her thoughts again as she turned to look at her. "You look like her, but clearly you're not Alta. At least not the Alta I know." She was shaking her head at the silliness of her friend's behavior. She then walked up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder while keeping Alvis steady in the other arm. Almost reading her friend's thoughts, she replied. "Come on, what about the Alta way? Since when have you been the type to just sit around and wait for stuff to happen?"

In such small villages like the Bone Heads and the Hairy Hooligans', in such tight-knit communities like theirs, there were no new faces save for the ones that just arrived. Everyone knew each other from numerous days of interaction that no one really ever kept track of and everyone knew Alta particularly well. When she wanted to, she could really raise up hel, pushing for whatever she wanted and not taking guff from anyone else. Some could only wonder what a girl like her might drive the Bone Heads to do were she given the title of chief, and most shuddered or guffawed at the ideas that came into their heads. No one could deny her fiery spirit, certainly not the group of teens she had spent her whole life knowing; they could only wonder where it had gone right now.

But the smile on Alta's face and the gleam in her eyes were a sure sign it had returned. "You're right – waiting's not my thing."

"Great," Ruoy huffed, never admitting to the miniscule bit of respect he was feeling for the girl he had spent his entire life hating. "But what are you gonna do about it?"

As if right on cue, a familiar roar echoed throughout the air; all the teens looked up to see Bois flying overhead before landing right next to Alta, coiling his tail and stabilizing himself with his large wings. The dragon greeted them a cheerful 'good morning' croon, having just woken up from his extended after breakfast nap. Alta looked at him silently before a devious grin had appeared on her face, which was seen by all as she turned to address them.

"We're going to take the next step." She simply replied.

Hiccup's departure to find the nest was the first move made in a cosmic game of chess of sorts, a trial on the board of the world meant to conquer the future before them, and now it was up to them to follow up on that move. The possible options had been weighed despite any word of protest otherwise by anyone, man or mortal, and the move Alta had decided upon had already been set into motion. Stupid or crazy, she paid little mind as to which as she gathered materials from the forge and other areas in town, the others helping her however they could. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III was the first dragon rider in history, and now Alta Walker Skulason II would be the second.

* * *

><p>Hiccup and Toothless dropped themselves from the sky down to their feet to catch their breaths, the island's ground littered with several coals that made it shift beneath Toothless's claws. To gain a better footing he leaped back to a large black stone that was protruding from near the shore of the island, shaking his head to regain his senses. It was a short period of mental preparation for him and Hiccup, reevaluating their strategy for defeating the imposing beast that now towered over them. The Queen's head seemed leagues above, shadowed in contrast by the bright grayed clouds of smoke and air swirling around in the sky.<p>

The few remains of the cavern wall she had just emerged from rolling down her rough, jagged scales in trails of rock and dust. Her six eyes seemed to be glowing red with vehemence as she stared down at the two who had left her kingdom in ruins, eliminating her slaves and raised their claws towards her. The promise of a merciless and agonizing death shone in those eyes – they would burn before her, of that she was sure of.

The Queen's rage had actually reawakened something in Toothless, something he had been sure to snuff out before going into the nest: fear. That instinctual terror he and all other dragons experienced when met with the Queen's visage and laid subject to her wrath. He would not give her the pleasure of hearing him whimper or whine – he was a warrior of the sky, he had always been, but his legs couldn't help but feel weak and wobbly and his breathing became quick and erratic. He could almost hear the siren song of hypnosis that the Queen used to control her subjects playing in his mind, turning his vision black and bringing him back to her side, back to that hell; the spell that had long held near absolute control over him until Hiccup shot him down and he regained his free will. Toothless raised a paw and began to back away a little, catching Hiccup's attention and causing him to brush his dragon's head with a few gentle strokes of his hand.

"Easy, bud. I got you; I'm not gonna let her have you or any of the others ever again. We can do this, you and me, together." Hiccup reassured.

The words, or tone, or some mixture of the two had managed to get through to Toothless and he stood tall, proud, and strong again. What did he have to fear? He was the Night Fury, feared by all dragons; standing supreme in speed, agility, intelligence, and accuracy, no other dragon could compete with him, and no Viking could so much as touch him. But Hiccup's words rang through his head suddenly, and something dawned on him right then and there – the real reason for the strength he now held, it wasn't because of his abilities or his reputation, but rather, something else. Hiccup.

That boy on his back was his strength.

Ever since Hiccup had crafted the tail and they had learnt to fly together, or maybe even as far back as the moment they had first touched in that cove and learned to trust one another, a moment that seemed almost lifetimes ago, did Toothless realize that something was missing in his life. The infinite sky was always his to own, to bask in its beauty, but now he had someone to share it with, someone to enjoy that exhilarating happiness that could only be found in embracing a world where anything seemed possible. That hope, that joy, that feeling of friendship that came from the boy who had defied everything he knew in order to help a creature that could so easily killed him had stirred something within him. A power unlike anything he had ever felt – it made his wings beat faster, his fire burn hotter, his mind think clearer than ever before. Toothless knew beyond any kind of doubt now – so long as Hiccup was by his side, he could do anything; that power was infinite.

And he would use every bit of it to protect the human whose heart he shared and make his dreams for their worlds a reality.

The Queen fired the first attack – she opened her maw and out from within came a massive, billowing plume of flame that melted and incinerated the rocks it touched. In a split-second of each other, Hiccup switched the pedal and engaged the tailfin while Toothless jolted up into the air, avoiding the blast of fire completely. Hiccup turned back to watch as the fire seemed to even burn away the water reaching the shore. A huge cloud of smoke and steam was created from the gust of heated wind that the Queen's stream of fire had emitted, and large embers of flame were dropping down upon Hiccup and Toothless, forcing the two to fly around and behind the great monstrosity.

Making a quick U-turn they flew over the length of her back and over her head, dodging quick shots of fire that she blasted out from them suddenly. A shot to the left, they dodged right, a shot to the right, they dodged left. When they had cleared past the entire radius of the island, they tilted up and returned to the island at breakneck speed, just as the Queen was sucking in the air to charge the gases for another blast. Toothless gathered up gas in his system and fired a quick shot that stopped her cold and staggered her a little.

Hiccup was scanning the Queen's body as they circled around her, looking for any kind of weakness they could use, knowing he had to make the most of Toothless's limited plasma shots. He could only hope that picking up on Fishlegs' habit of blurting out random little dragon facts would come in handy. Her skull was coated in heavy armor, with a club-like tail that could snap a Viking ship into pieces: a few shipwrecks littered around the island and the sea stacks surrounding it, with gaping holes in the hulls and moss growing around were clear examples of its strength. Its tiny eyes, despite their advantage in numbers, didn't seem very useful, meaning it must have relied on hearing and smell mostly. But the thing that drew Hiccup's attention were the folded appendages on its back.

"That thing has wings! Okay, let's see if it can use them!" Hiccup called, and Toothless got the message immediately. There was no doubt in the Night Fury's mind it could work –they would have a clear advantage in the sky, where he was master, where no one could rival his skills in flight. Certainly not the evil Queen, who had been sealed away in the mountain for so long her wings had deteriorated and weakened from lack of use. The two flew miles up into the sky, even passing the low, swirling cloud layers just above the peak of the island's mountain, and stopped with a halt, turned, and dived down, wisps of clouds blowing in their path. Toothless charged his blast with the infamous screech that alerted foes to his presence, coming in fast on the Queen. In mere moments they were right on her and Toothless let loose the blast.

BOOM!

With a burst of flame and a flash of blue light, the force of the impact sent the Queen toppling down to the ground. Hiccup looked back to observe their work, and what he saw caused sweat to pour down his face, drops flying away in the wind. He could literally hear the numerous bones crack as wings that had been shut for hundreds of years had opened up, the edges torn and ragged like worn tunics, the dust spilling from the membranes. The Queen rose up from the ground with her fore paws raised, her wings flapping to grant her extra lift, and she slammed them down on the ground just as Toothless approached, the Night Fury rearing back with a large flap of his wings to avoid being stomped. The crash down had sent numerous rocks flying about like a splash in the water, which Toothless swatted away like flies with his claws.

The two of them took off again just as soon as the rock shower had ended, with the Queen in hot pursuit; they had escaped the main shore just as more quick fire shots had come, flung about and crashing on the sea stacks instead. Some of the blasts had come so close that Toothless had to instead leap onto the rocks surrounding the nest, tucking his wings in and pouncing from rock to rock, not a single movement wasted, as elegant as a cat, before flying off again.

Hiccup and Toothless zoomed further away, while the Queen, who had stomped down to the edge of the island, finally took flight with a large beat of her wings, leaping as Toothless did but at an infinitely slower pace that made it seem as though she was simply lifting her tubby body off the ground. Toothless found it totally hilarious that she had been subconsciously trying to match his agility, when not even the swiftest Nadders or Skrills could reach him.

"You think that did it?" Hiccup asked Toothless, but his question was already answered as he noticed when he turned around and saw the Queen chasing them. Her wing flaps were slow and sluggish, but the powerful gusts of air more than accommodated for her lack of speed. She roared vengeance at them as her fat limbs drooped and her massive girth swaying with her uneven flight, her eyes ever focused on the two of them.

"Well, she can fly," Hiccup joked.

'_Yeah,_ _but can she keep up?'_ Toothless barked back, turning his attention to the sky before them. He quickly dived down towards the water, leveling out as they approached the sea stacks. The quantity of the natural towers that surrounded the island made them like a thick forest of trees, two or three in every direction of the two of them. Yet Toothless was able to nimbly move through them with the fluidity of a serpent across the ground, weaving through narrow, treacherous twists and turns and bounding through holes in the formations.

The Queen attempted to snap her jaws as they cut through a corner, but she was nowhere near fast enough. Toothless pulled forward, streaking through more of the rocks as they circled around the entire island; the Queen, however, had no need for such fancy maneuvers, her enormous body smashing through the sea stacks and sent them crumbling into the waters below. Her slowly gaining speed, though still nowhere near Toothless's level, was not showing any signs of letting up even as she charged trough – in fact she didn't even seemed bothered as the rocks sprayed about in her wake.

At that point the draconic tyrant decided to get a little more creative in trying to capture her pray; while still in pursuit of them she slightly pulled away towards one of the shipwrecks near the island. Hiccup turned to face her again and saw that she had managed to grab one in her jaws, destroying the rock it had been precariously perched upon. Without warning, she swung her head and launched the boat right at them. Hiccup turned forward again and yanked on the saddle as hard as he could to shift Toothless's position. The dragon reacted and tilted vertically before spinning around to dodge the incoming projectile, his wings instantly tucked in as he twirled around the length of the hull. It was only when they had avoided that first ship did Toothless catch that the Queen had picked up a second ship, or only half of one this time, but he had dodged that one just as nimbly by landing on the rim of the broken hill in midair and then leaping off of it with a flap of its wings, which when combined with the force of the jump, deterred its path and sent it crashing into a smaller rock jutting out of the water, breaking it to pieces.

The Queen suddenly came from nowhere and Toothless ended up landing on her head, but the Night Fury leapt immediately off with a nasty slash from his claws to mark his former place on her head. The lunge forward was quick, but Toothless opened his wings up again and swung back to face her retreating form, hovering over the water as she swung back around herself at her usual slow pace. Her body was not made for sharp turns, so she ended up traveling a few more feet forward before she managed to stop and face the dragon and his rider again, her club tail smashing into a much larger and solid sea stack, essentially a huge cylindrical tower sticking out of the water.

She circled around the sea stack with her tail still stuck in the rock, carving out a line in the sea stack and eventually completing the circuit as she returned to her first position. The top of the sea stack began to wobble and crumble, tipping over with numerous crack forming in the remainder of the pillar; before it could topple over, the Queen, with a swing of her tail sent the enormous rock flying towards Hiccup and Toothless, who were now fling forward again.

"Yeah, uh, that might hurt a lot." Hiccup deadpanned – if he were watching himself now, he might find his alarmingly cool demeanor in the face of certain peril near laughable. Toothless wasn't about to take the chance that it 'might hurt' at all, and instead tucked his wings and landed gracefully atop another sea stack before shooting forward and completely dodging the chunk of rock that shattered the stack they were just on. Toothless opened his wings and looped in the air before charging forward again.

The Queen moved from the large pillar to two slightly smaller pillars just ahead of her and lifted her large paws to grasp them. Just as Toothless approached she sunk her claws into the rock and tore them from their seats in the watery earth below, sending them crashing into each other just as Toothless came in between them. Narrowed eyes and a devilish dragon smirk suggested the Queen's joy that she had managed to crush them, but that joy turned back to her previous rage as Hiccup and Toothless emerged from the cloud of dust and shot right past her. Growing angrier by the second she turned around again and with a roar used her tail to bat out three smaller rocks, but once again the Night Fury proved to be too agile, barrel rolling to avoid all the rocks completely before realigning himself and seemingly kicking the air by crouching and then lunging out to push forward at his opponent again.

It seemed she was expecting another frontal assault, which she was prepared for with a good dosage of gas building up in her mouth to fire a torrent of flame that would even disintegrate whatever ashes their cremated bodies would spill. However, the two surprised her by turning upward to the sky; her eyes widened and she immediately let out more simple shots of fire in a desperate attempt to correct her previous strategy and blast them down. Toothless was wheeling up now thanks to the updrafts lifting his wings higher and higher, but as he and Hiccup noticed the oncoming fire shots, prepared for immediate evasive action. Toothless pulled his wings up and inward, stopping the winds from turning him around before lunging forward again and changing direction with a quick, strong flap.

He quickly barrel rolled to the side to avoid the line of shots, with Hiccup clutching tightly to the saddle with his eyes shut to keep from getting dizzy and vomiting, since barrel rolls were a little tough still on his stomach. Toothless quickly leveled out again and charged out across the ocean almost faster than he had ever flown before – the two of them were crossing leagues of water in the blink of an eye, with the necessary motivation for such speeds in the form of the Queen right behind them. The fighters were flying over a layer of clouds before slowly dropping in altitude again until they were near the surface of the water again, at that point banking back towards the battle-scarred island of dragons.

Toothless hopped over a large archway of stone and flipped upside down in the air, launching two tiny plasma blasts at the Queen to conserve the diminishing amount of gas he had remaining. Unfortunately the blasts were too weak and simply bounced off her skin. It still served to irritate her, and she responded by opening her wings up and slightly pulling back, unleashing more blasts in the form of cloudy crescents of flame that she swung her head around to fire. Toothless flipped around with his belly exposed to the water beneath them, his wings folded in once again but only slightly to keep up their movement but still be able to dodge attacks. He straightened out and flapped hard to avoid the first fire crescent, barrel rolled to the right to avoid the second, and ducked under and pulled up to dodge the third – his movements ever remained the rhythmic dance of aerial combat it had constantly been since the beginning of the clash between the titans.

Hiccup growled in frustration – the battle had raged on for about another hour or two and they were not getting anywhere by simply trying to tire the creature out. It seemed that for her despicably lazy behavior, the Queen still had plenty of power and stamina to spare, though she had been straining it in every amount to catch and devour them. He needed to reassess his strategy and take the offensive against her, though Toothless was really low on ammo, he guessed, even though no one truly knew the precise shot limit of a Night Fury, but he could assume Toothless had about four or five shots left – hopefully more. He could tell that Toothless was pushing it just as hard by the Queen by the heavy pants emitted from his nostrils in between wing flaps and the steadily uneven path he flew. Hiccup didn't blame him, he was getting fairly exhausted himself: though he had done a good job at hiding it, he felt his heart was going to burst from the adrenaline pumping his blood and his left foot ached from having to adjust the pedal so hard so quickly.

He looked up to the clouds above; compared to the lighter clouds surrounding him, these were near pitch black, an ominous appearance caused by the thick smoke from the volcano and the dragon's fire that was recently released, their mass and volume almost giving the appearance of a murky ocean in the sky. The dark cover showed strong indication that a storm was on its way, but Hiccup could only focus on the idea on his head. Though it almost seemed unreal, he thought back to the days when he and Toothless stood on opposite sides and the Night Fury still had the power of self-flight. In the dead of night, his body blended in perfectly with the black sky above, his passing under the light of the moon being the only way he could ever be spotted. It was no secret to anyone how terrifyingly amazing the stealth skills of the Night Fury were – it was time to utilize that advantage.

"Okay, Toothless, time to disappear!" Hiccup called, locking gazes with Toothless for another short moment of mental communication. He clicked the pedal once more and Toothless made a steep climb upward towards the clouds. "Come on, bud!" He shouted out with the Queen trailing them again, opening her jaws as she closed in and snapped down again.

"Here it comes!" Hiccup warned, hearing the hissing of gases in the Queen's mouth. The swerved out of the way just as the Queen fired another column of flame, quickly dissolving into smoke; she spun and brushed the thick clumps of smoke away with her wings, snuffing out what little fire remained. With that, they were in her sights again. By then, though they had reached the lower black clouds, piercing the first few that came by. Almost immediately after the shadowed form of the Night Fury completely vanished in the hampered environment, the Queen emerging from the bottom surface and rising into the inside of the cloud cover.

She roared in annoyance at the two, unable to locate even the slightest trace of them inside the cover they had found. To her they were now scurrying around like actual bugs inside the cavern walls, like the Terrible Terrors, the gnats of dragons that were so pathetically tiny. She looked high, low, and all around but the only thing her eyes came across were more clouds – not a single trace of the Night Fury or his worthless human rider. The Queen beckoned them out: now she was issuing the challenge to them and if they knew what was good for them, which they obviously didn't, they would come out and face her. Aside from the roars and the flaps of her wings, there was only a tense silence that could cause any man or dragon to very soon break in panic and begin attacking in all directions. But the two concealed in darkness were patient, swooping by in the thickest cover and biding their time, waiting for the Queen to lower her defenses so they could strike.

From completely out of nowhere, a plasma blast came from behind, exploding against her left shoulder blade and causing her to roar in pain and stumble in the air. In her agony, she managed to catch a blur of black – the Night Fury and his rider – sweeping past and into the clouds again. She roared out after them, preparing to attack, but as soon as she finished turning, they were gone again. Toothless came around once more and dived down in a twirl, firing another blast that hit squarely on the membrane of her right wing near her legs and puncturing a hole right through it.

Another shot came on her left wing and tore a hole right in the middle between the bones, one more came on its right wing again in almost the exact same spot as the first blast on her left shoulder. Toothless was pushing himself far beyond his limits now, gathering up every tiny amount of gas he could to fire more and more blasts, alternating between hitting the left and right wings and tearing more holes in them. The clouds flashed with eerie light for but a second before dying down and the sound of the explosions echoed across the empty sky, creating an uncanny semblance of an actual thunderstorm. Such a feat could only be expected of the unholy offspring of lightning and death.

At this point, the Queen's patience had entirely run out; her wings were burnt and tattered and she was completely exhausted, fueling her boiling rage and the building gases in her mouth. With a furious bellow, she fired her destructive flames in all directions, swinging her head and filling the clouds with a wild, trembling inferno, burning whips illuminating the shadows with sparks and heat. Hiccup could see the flames fast approaching as he turned his head to look.

"Watch out!" Hiccup called. But it was too late.

The erratic flames had reached the artificial tailfin and set it on fire, licking and tearing away at the material bit by bit. The smoke could reach Hiccup's nostrils even with their current speed: he could only turn and look worriedly as his creation slowly burned away to nothing. A small part of him was more disappointed than anything else at seeing all his hard work destroyed, but mostly he had been worried about what the lack of tailfin meant for Toothless, who lacked the ability of self-propelled flight. How would he fly, or land, or escape without it?

"Okay, time's up… Let's see if this works." Hiccup groaned, knowing the immediate future was unimportant. The pedal was hardly working anymore, the mechanism in the tail barely responding to the burning ropes. He recognized just from looking that this was the deciding moment – here, now, this battle had reached its climax and only one side would be walking away in the end.

Reigning Toothless in, the two of them looped back around, flying through one of the holes in the Queen's wing right into her face. "COME ON! IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO!?" He taunted. Toothless unleashed a jeer of his own in the form of a screeching roar.

'_YOU CALL YOURSELF AN ALPHA!? A DRAGON!? I"LL TEAR YOU RIGHT FROM YOUR SEAT IN THE SKY!'_

That got her attention, and if possible, made her even angrier; as the pair zoomed past her snout, she tried to snap at them once more. The two dodged once more and jackknifed downward, with the Queen flapping quickly in pursuit. They broke through the blankets of clouds once more in their final chase, the Queen and her roars right behind them. The adrenaline of the entire thing pushed Toothless to flap and fly at double, and then triple his normal speed; with the tailfin in its current state there was no more room for fancy tricks or dodges, just a straight beeline down back to the island.

"Stay with me, buddy! We're good! Just a little bit longer!" Hiccup cheered, Toothless heard even in his panic, and pushed ever harder, ready to break his wings off at the force he was exerting with them. His wide slit eyes focused on the clouds that lie before them, at the island below, where if he fell, it would be over.

She inched ever closer, bit by bit, narrowing her eyes as she closed in on the pair; she was smirking inwardly, already able to taste them in her mouth. She opened her mouth, allowing the hissing of gas to reach Hiccup and Toothless's ears, ready to let loose her blaze once more and finish them. Her gaping jaws opened wider and wider, accumulating the gas until her inner fuel tank had gathered every last inch of its reserves.

"Hold, Toothless…" Hiccup stabilized Toothless's path so they were flying straight down, the Night Fury no longer beating his wings. He inhaled sharply and shut his eyes – this was it. "NOW!"

In a split second, Hiccup slammed the pedal so hard it almost broke and Toothless pivoted back on one wing to face the Queen and fired a point blank blast, their last shot. It went right into the Queen's mouth igniting the gas and setting off a chain reaction throughout her body. Just as her jaws had opened as wide as they could, she immediately reeled back and shut them again, appearing to be gagging and choking on the flaming gases inside her mouth. She coughed and snorted desperately to eject the flames from her system but they only continued to detonate and destroy her from the inside out. She widened her eyes as they cleared the last of the clouds and saw the approaching nest coming in fast.

The Queen opened her wings to slow down her descent, but the fire incinerating her insides along with the damage she sustained on her wings from Toothless's plasma blasts had taken their toll, holes and tears rapidly burning away at the membrane, some from earlier widening while others were newly forming. The punctured, ruined appendages which wind could easily seep through did nothing to stop her momentum. Toothless and Hiccup turned back around to face forward, fighting hard against the wind pressure, the black dragon struggling slightly with visible signs before opening his wings and streaking past the Queen's head. All she could do now was bellow one final time in utter despair.

The loss of her subjects, her power, her empire, everything she had gained for 300 years was now an inevitable reality. As the human had declared, her reign ended here, stolen from her by a union that stood against the very world she had created and enforced with her superiority over the fact that no man or dragon alone could stand up to her. It was no boast or warning, but rather, a sentence: the two who joined as once were her executioners, sent to deliver punishment for her greed and gluttony that had served to ruin the lives of dragons and humans alike. With no regrets towards her deeds and her stubborn clinging to the kingdom she was to leave behind in the realm of the living, she hit the ground head-first. And right on contact, her body exploded in a towering pillar, the force shaking the earth and blowing away the rocks with a heated gust.

Hiccup and Toothless were in close proximity to the Queen's exploding body, the flames chasing after them and consuming every inch of her body, erasing every speck from existence. They weaved left and right avoiding her back spines, her flailing legs, and what remained of her wings. It was almost like that first true flight of theirs when they reacted to the sea stacks on pure instinct, only now there was a greater threat in the form of the fireball that continued to expand behind them. Toothless raced on, flapping to swerve past any oncoming pieces of the Queen's once-menacing form before rising up and flying over the remaining spikes. Hiccup tried quickly to adjust the tailfin and get them away in time, but at that point the leather had completely burned away, leaving the bent and burned rods and tattered fabric to flail helplessly; the pedals went completely dead and the belt which secured the fin came loose, flinging it into the inferno. Turning back they were greeted with their own despair, the Queen's final revenge: her spiked club tail was careening towards them, and with no way to turn or control their flight there was no choice but to fly right into it.

"No… NO!" Hiccup cried, both his and Toothless' eyes wide in fear while the dragon hastily slashed the air to slow and avoid it. Those words were the last Hiccup uttered before they collided, the force knocking Hiccup out and ripping him away from the harness. Toothless twisted his neck back quick enough to snap the bones inside, his eyes widened so far his eye sockets threatened to tear.

'_HICCUP!'_ He barked. He struggled and pedaled in the air with all the might he could possibly muster; he twisted forwards and dived after his unconscious boy into the fire. Everything seemed to slow as the fire consumed them both – it was up to fate now if the two would survive.

* * *

><p>Bois was flying over the ocean calmly but fast, along the same path Toothless had traveled earlier, with Alta and the other teens perched atop his back, carrying rope, medicinal herbs and bandages, and of course their weapons. They had been flying for a while now, a few hours actually but Bois wasn't sure exactly, nor were his human passengers, who he had no trouble carrying. What was of concern to the<p>

Timberjack, though, was that as far as they had traveled, and by now they had already reached the thick cloud cover surrounding the nest, was that he no longer heard the Queen's call ringing in his mind and pulling him in. The tyrannical beast had always used her siren spell to guide her subjects back to the nest with their offerings to her; had something happened to her? Granted, he had absolutely no love for her, no dragon did – they obeyed out of fear that she would eat them and fear alone, but it seemed now that her appetite had passed somehow, and that was a concerning thing.

The teens, however, paid no mind to their dragon chauffer's suspicion, in fact they appeared to have forgotten the task at hand completely – they were to absorbed, spellbound actually, by the sights and feeling of being miles up in the air. The rushing wind, the endless infinity of blue everywhere around them, the overpowering freedom that seized every waking piece of them – it was indescribable, beyond any coherent thoughts other than that for the first time, they felt truly alive. Was this what Hiccup had felt every time he rode upon Toothless, with each turn, each flap, each trick? They had been so cautious towards the dragons that Hiccup had tamed and invited into Draak, they never would have guessed they were turning away from what was perhaps the greatest experience in their young lives. The others were looking at every point in the sky, smiles as wide as the sea beneath them, laughing, gasping, and bouncing like little babies. Alta seemed to be the only one still focused on their current objective, something that was surprising as even the grump of the litter Ruoy couldn't help but crack a grin.

"OH! Can you believe we're on a dragon!?" Woh laughed. "Look at us, we're so high up!" She looked down to the sea: anyone else would have felt a bit dizzy at the altitude, but Woh could only pant and giggle seeing the waves beneath.

"This. Is. Beyond. Awesome!" Nogard yelled. "We really missed out – to think we could've been flying them all this time!"

"Oh! Look at that cloud over there! It's so fluffy!" Woh pointed.

"Yeah, fascinating. Of course I'd be more interested if it didn't look like every other cloud!" Ruoy shouted, his standard scowl returned for a moment to shout at the other girl. Woh only scowled back.

"So stab me! I'm just caught up in the moment – don't pretend you aren't!" She argued. When Ruoy couldn't give a response back, she smirked and stuck out her tongue at him, getting a growl for her immaturity.

"Hiccup really has it good, doesn't he – he sees this kind of stuff every day. Maybe when we get back we can pick out our own dragons." Niart added in, his normal timidity completely forgotten.

"Aw, yeah!" Nogard answered. "No offense to you guys, but I'm so ready for a solo ride on my own dragon!"

"I've actually got a dragon in mind already…" Woh whispered, her mind straying to the thought of a particular Changewing.

Ruoy snorted and crossed his arms. "Well, whatever dragon you pick, I guarantee it won't hold a candle to my choice!" He said proudly, but everyone only stared at him in surprised silence. "What!?"

"You actually want a dragon?" Niart asked.

"After you were ready to kill Hiccup's Night Fury and went on that warmongering tirade last week?" Nogard asked.

"Honestly, we figured you'd be the last person on earth to want a dragon." Woh joked. Alta, who was listening to the whole conversation, only smirked inwardly. She could think of plenty of people who would feel even more reserved than Ruoy about getting their own dragon, even with Hiccup warming them up to the idea of having them.

"Well…" Ruoy blushed furiously until his head looked like a massive beet. "I mean, if everybody else is going to, then… well, I-I guess it can't hurt or anything." The poor boy had been nursing his wounded pride ever since Hiccup first arrived on the island. He figured it was about time to just put it to rest.

"Oh man…" Nogard continued lying on Bois' back; it seemed pretty clear that he was the most excited out of the four of them. Alta understood, if not for the urgency of the matter, she'd be pretty excited at the idea that she was flying her dragon for the first time. "Just imagine it – flying, every day. We'll surf the clouds, explore new uncharted islands, we could even have races!"

"Yeah, don't get too excited about that last bit. I'll be racing circles around you amateurs!" Ruoy taunted.

"Says the guy who was kicking and screaming when he had to drag him onto Bois!" Woh answered, laughing along with Nogard and Niart while Ruoy growled.

"Look guys, I'm all for riding dragons too, especially since this was my idea," Alta suddenly cut in, stopping the laughter almost immediately. "But right now I'm a bit more concerned with where we're flying them, because in case you haven't noticed…"

The others seemed confused for a moment before looking around and noticing that in the midst of their conversation, they had passed a huge wall of clouds and now they were surrounded entirely by white. Numerous wisps came past them and the blue sky they had once gazed upon seemed dimensions apart in this new prison of air. The teenagers kept turning their heads at their new surroundings, fear slightly growing in their chests – of the few expeditions to search for the nests that her father and the other tribesmen took part in, they had reported a thick cover of fog near Helheim's Gate before their ships were lost. Now they found themselves in a similar situation, and even on dragonback, they couldn't help but hold their breaths fearing that they would soon meet their ends as well.

"Okay, getting really creeped out here." Someone spoke; it sounded like Niart.

"I can barely see my hand in front of my face." Ruoy complained while the clouds continued to grow darker as they approached.

"That's my hand!" Shouted Nogard.

"And my face!" Replied Woh. Even Bois was highly tense from their surroundings, darting his slit eyes around. It was then that he looked up and saw something come out of the clouds – a gasping bark was all he could emit from the shock of it all. Alta seemed to notice and pet his head bending down.

"Bois, what's wrong?" She asked and looked up in the direction he was, as did all the others before they caught sight of it too. They gasped in pure shock and terror: a black blur, presumably Toothless, with a glowing end being chased by what was perhaps the biggest, most terrifying dragon they had ever seen, ready to swallow Toothless and Hiccup both in one bite. Before it could, the small black dragon turned around and shot a blue blast into the giant's mouth, causing her to gag on the flames inside.

"DEAR ODIN! WHAT THE HEL IS THAT THING!" Ruoy shouted, and for the first time in his life, his shouts weren't backed up with anger, but pure, unrelenting fear.

"I-I-I-It's huge!" Niart stuttered, ready to faint and fall into the sea.

"Something shot at it, though! You think it was Toothless?" Asked Nogard, somehow managing to keep himself together, although he was just as freaked as the others. Before anyone could answer, the enormous demon passed through the lower layer of clouds, leaving them unable to see the initial impact, although they were able to see its immediate aftereffect – a massive, earth-shattering explosion. Everyone gasped and reeled back so hard they almost fell off Bois' sides, although Bois himself was just as surprised, gasping along with the teens; it took all he had not to buck back and fling his passengers off his back.

Alta stared wide-eyed as the flames of the explosion soon passed, unable to think or breathe. Whatever that thing was, it had just exploded, and with Toothless so close…

Woh managed to regain her senses first and leaned toward her. "H-Hey… You don't… think…" But even those words alone were enough to pull her back to reality. Tears instantly formed in her eyes and fell freely, scattering away by the winds.

"HICCUP!" She screamed. She bucked Bois' neck with all her might and the dragon charged with all his strength towards the island, pumping his wings in any chance to gain additional speed. Alta gripped his horns so hard they would snap off if anyone else were gasping them. All she could think about was the boy that was there, and whether or not he had survived – if he didn't, well, she couldn't even bring herself to consider that.

'Hiccup, please… please be okay.' She begged in her mind as she approached.

* * *

><p>It was deathly silent, the world had been muted in the aftermath of the great battle and all the color seemed to vanish from the island. Even the flows of lava seemed to have stopped. All that was left was a stony beach covered in smoke that blurred everything like the dense fog around the island. A disturbing rain of black ashes fell upon the land like a gloomy snow, dying everything pitch black, like the body of the Night Fury, who laid down in pain and exhaustion. His muscles were stained and sore, being pushed to the point of snapping apart, while his bones felt like brittle glass, he was sure, in his now-barely functioning consciousness, that some had broken from the fall. He turned around, aching felt in every part of his body, struggling to open his eyes.<p>

He noticed also, his back felt surprisingly light, and it seemed wrong to him somehow, like there was something supposed to be there. Toothless pulled in his splayed out wings to his body and squinted near the end of his tail, struggling to regain clarity and focus in his vision. His senses were returning to him and he felt that he was right – his back was meant to be heavier, but not by much. There was a familiar weight there, but now it was gone, and they only weight he felt now was that in his legs and wings, which felt like heavy lead or they had boulders the size of Gronkles tied to them.

His sight finally came back to him and he saw the grievous state of the tailfin that had landed right near him, disconnected from his tail. The leather was gone completely, the belt was ruined, and the metal rods were burnt and bent sporadically. And it all hit him at once.

'_Hiccup...'_

Toothless pushed the tiredness away and lifted his head up, looking around for any sign of his Hiccup, fearing that Hiccup might not have survived or that he had not made it in time. His memory slowly came back while doing so: after the explosion had passed, they had crashed to the ground, smashing against rocks and rolling and skidding like a stone skipped across the water until they had finally stopped in the shore. Toothless was sure that he had had Hiccup in his protective embrace, wrapped up in his wings and pressed hard and close against his chest, determined not to let a single scratch on him. But he also remembered falling into the explosion, and it escaped him still just how he had managed to catch him. He shuffled and shifted his beaten body all around, wondering perhaps if it was just a trick and he had not caught Hiccup after all.

It was then that he spotted his boy, lying a few feet away unconscious, the ash gathering on his splayed out form. His skin was deathly pale and his riding harness and clothes were burned and tattered. Toothless picked himself up off the ground, or at least tried to before collapsing down again, no ounce of strength left within him. His muscles screamed in pain and agony with every movement, the torture enough to snap any man or dragon's mind, but Toothless pushed on, dragging his limp hind legs, wings, and tail and crawling with his claws grasping at the shifting pebbles. All he could think about was the little dragon rider before him, his fatigued thoughts echoing his name, his limitless drive to protect his rider powering his legs through sheer will alone.

'_Hiccup… Hiccup…. Hiccup…'_

He could have fallen apart at any time, every claw lift could have been his last before that leg shattered, but it mattered nothing to him. Too worn to even cry out, he had still managed to make it; all he could do was take his Hiccup into his claws and wrap his wings around him in the warmest embrace any living creature could give another. In that black cocoon that now formed around Hiccup's motionless body, he was safe, and to Toothless, that was all that was necessary. With a whimper and a small lick on his boy's cheek, Toothless had managed to stir Hiccup, who slowly opened his eyes to find the concerned, near tearful gaze of his dragon focused entirely on him.

"T-Toothless…" Hiccup muttered. The dragon crooned happily over Hiccup's well-being, but it was so weak it almost sounded like a simple purr or another whimper. Looking closely at his boy, Toothless could see he was even worse off than expected. Sure he was pale usually compared to other Vikings, but his grievous condition combined with the ashes of the Queen falling on him made his skin as white as snow itself. Toothless was terrified: humans should not be that color – it was a clear sign that his boy was on death's door.

"Toothless… I can't feel my leg, bud…"

Hiccup had a numb feeling where his left leg was supposed to be, and looking down, Toothless could see why, although the sight made him want to vomit. The leg was nearly cremated, and bloodied, with some bone actually sticking out; gazing at the punctured marks around the leg, Toothless's memory came flooding back once again. When Hiccup was falling into the fiery end of the Queen, Toothless reached out to grab him, not with his stubby legs, but with his mouth since it was the closest thing to his leg. The only way to maintain a secure grip was to pull his teeth out and bite down hard; he was able to pull him in, but the strength of his jaws had devastated the bones and muscle tissue. Fat lot of good it did anyway, since Toothless still managed to lose him when they crash landed.

Toothless whimpered sadly to Hiccup: the guilt was overwhelming in the young dragon's heart. When he determined that Hiccup and his machine were the reason he had lost his tailfin, he had wished in spiteful rage that something just as terrible would happen to the miserable skin-sack to cripple him just as badly, that he would pay for robbing him of his flight, pulling him from the sky forever. But that miserable skin-sack returned what he had stolen, feeling guilty for his actions to begin with, and soon became the best friend Toothless could ever ask for, and because of all that… now, Toothless wished with all his heart and soul that he could take it back.

_'I'm so sorry… I-I didn't mean it. But it… it was the only way I could save you.'_ He whimpered.

Hiccup cracked a weak smile and stroked the Night Fury's head; it was weird – perhaps it was the fact that he might be delusional from being on the verge of death, but he could swear he heard Toothless in his head. More than just a simple imagining, but like an actual voice inside his head formed from words imprinted in his mind. As if they were speaking aloud like two people, but with the words being only a convenience rather than a requirement.

'I-It's okay, bud." Hiccup chuckled softly. "You did what you had to do. Thank you. Honestly though…" Hiccup could not see his leg inside the darkness further down in Toothless's wings, but he could just feel how bad of shape his leg was in. "I guess I deserve this…"

Toothless's eyes widened and barked as hard as he could to protest, but with his strained voice it only came out as a sad, raspy, whimper. How could he think he deserved this fate? Sure he made mistakes but he more than made up for them; if Toothless didn't see him as a bad person, then surely no other dragon could, so why?

"I took a piece of you…" Toothless reared his head back. "It's only fair you take a piece of me."

Of course it would be that. '_Hiccup, no… I-I was stupid and mad… I shouldn't have wished something like that on anyone, you least of all.'_ His freedom, once restored, finally meant something to the dragon. For the first time in his life, he was happy, because now he could share those sights with someone he cared about. Forget that it was a human, it was someone who looked at him without fear, but with wonder like how he looked at the rest of the new world he'd been exposed to. And he in turn wanted to make the world a safer place for dragons like him, so he would never have to face pain or death again. Words truly could never tell how much that meant to him.

"I don't blame you for anything bud. I'm not mad." Hiccup said, earning a sorrowful grimace from the Night Fury – if only he could have been that noble and forgiving. Hiccup soon found himself fighting just to stay awake, his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, lulling him towards the eternal sleep. Toothless nudged his head up, knocking him back awake, if only slightly.

"Bud… I-I don't know… if I'm going to make it," he confessed, stroking Toothless's muzzle.

'_Don't say that! You have to hold on! Please… for me!' _Toothless whimpered frantically. He couldn't go back to be alone – he'd rather die than face a world without Hiccup in it. He couldn't even imagine such a thing, it was too horrible.

"If… if that happens… I want to make sure I go without regrets. I'm not heading off to Valhalla until I get this off my chest."

Toothless's expression now retained the panic and sorrow of the prospect of losing his boy, but were now mixed with a strong dose of confusion. '_W-What do you mean?_'

Hiccup's focus was fading quickly, and he knew he had to make the most of this moment – now with his energy fading quickly he realized he had put it off too long. Toothless was his friend and he deserved the truth, no matter how horrible it was, even if their friendship would be ruined because of it. Whatever would come of this, he steeled himself to face it, just as long as he could speak the honest, unhidden truth, he would be all right. What came after would be up to Toothless. Still, Hiccup could not help but let the single tear fall from his eye, and he was in no shape to hold off the rest that would soon follow.

"Toothless… you'd still be my friend, right…?" Hiccup felt he had to ask, even though he felt his dragon's expected outrage was something he had coming for a while. "Even… even if you knew something bad about me? Would you still be my friend no matter how horrible it was…?"

Toothless only looked more worried, outright _pained_ at the question. '_What is with you and saying all these stupid things? The answer should be obvious… Hiccup, stop thinking you deserve all this sadness!' _

"You wouldn't be doing this if you knew…" Hiccup whispered while Toothless held him tightly, and hearing that statement just made him squeeze harder, as hard as he could without damaging him. It hurt Toothless so much seeing, while they were still on Berk and Toothless was stuck in that cove, how Hiccup sometimes came so defeated, so miserable, and it never seemed to bother him as much as it should. People there treated him so poorly because he didn't possess their kind of strength, the only kind that mattered to them, and Hiccup just went along with it. It had gone on for a majority of Hiccup's life, and in some way, that rejection had become a part of him; his heart had become numb by accepting their views on him. He was never really that hurt because he convinced himself that he was worthless – in fact, Toothless wondered if he'd be okay if they decided to execute him for those same reasons, and Hiccup would be okay with it still. Maybe so, and that reality was just sickening to him.

If Toothless could, he'd go back in time and find Hiccup when he was a little boy, so he could rip of the limbs and mutilate every last Viking who'd ever made his boy cry. Any Viking who said even one hurtful word, who touched him the wrong way, who even gave him a reason to think Hiccup wasn't safe or happy. What Toothless wouldn't give to have always been able to protect his boy, and be able to talk to him to tell him it was going to be alright.

Hiccup pulled himself away slightly to look up at Toothless again, and once more the tears started to fall. "Bud, when we left Berk that day, I-I wasn't lying when I said I was tired of being pushed around, of being a… a Hiccup… but, there was… something else… something I didn't tell you…"

Toothless blinked. '_What…?' _was all his expression said.

"Playing with you every day in the woods… those were the happiest days of my life," said Hiccup, and the small smile on Toothless' face did no justice to the overwhelming comfort those few words gave. "I-I had a real friend, and playing with you helped me learn so much about dragons, things that no Viking ever bothered to learn since they didn't help in killing them. I took advantage of that knowledge and I had gotten so much better in dragon training; I was pushed to the top of the class in no time… Imagine everyone's surprise to find that Hiccup, Hiccup the Useless, got so good in Dragon Training. They'd thought the world was going crazy…" Toothless growled lightly – oh, how he hated that nickname of Hiccup's that the other humans his age had so kindly given him. Hiccup rolled his eyes and chuckled: 'stupid, overprotective lizard…' But that smile that formed quickly turned to a frown.

"But because I had gotten so good in training, I was selected to take the final exam…" He sucked in a breath, although he quickly coughed it out, calming down thanks to a small lick from Toothless. He recomposed himself: this was it, now or never. "I was… I… I had to face the Monstrous Nightmare… and kill it…"

Time had stopped completely for the two, everything had frozen as Hiccup took in the dragon's flabbergasted expression. Aware that dragons were capable of thought and reason, he had no idea what Toothless was thinking now, which seemed normal and odd at the same time since he was just hearing his dragon's thoughts a moment ago. For Hiccup, his heart had stopped beating completely and his blood was as cold as ice. Would Toothless now try to kill him for what would be considered nothing else but a betrayal? Well, if he was, he would have to wait until Hiccup declared his feelings and said everything he needed to.

"They said… they said it was supposed to be an honor. That I could take my place among great warriors and champions of righteousness. For so long, I thought it was what I wanted… but when it came down to a scrawny little boy and the world's most terrifying dragon bound and trapped in the woods… I couldn't. I thought it was fear… that I was weak and unable to kill a dragon, but maybe… maybe it was because I was strong enough not to…"

_'Hiccup…'_ Toothless was still shocked at this – he had known that Hiccup was training with dragons, but he didn't think his boy was going to end up killing one. Maybe he was a little betrayed somewhere, but his heart was pushing that feeling back to give Hiccup a chance to speak. After all, he had just said he couldn't; Toothless knew he was different, but that was what he liked about Hiccup. And besides, from the boy's words and expression, this really didn't seem to be an easy subject to speak about.

"I couldn't… I couldn't kill that dragon, just like I couldn't kill you." This time, the tears were falling freely without any signs of stopping, and Hiccup didn't feel like letting them. The pain of the dark secret, both keeping it all this time and finally telling it facing the fear of abandonment from Toothless hitting him all at once. His voice sounded so broken, as broken as he and his dragon both were. "I couldn't kill any dragon… I c-couldn't even point a dagger at one, because all I would see… was you. My… my best friend…"

'_Hiccup, it's okay…'_ Toothless thought; even if it was just an inner voice, it nonetheless was starting to sound as broken and cracked as Hiccup's real one.

"I-I couldn't let it come to that between us… I couldn't let it go back to 'Vikings vs. Dragons' with us… You were… you were all I had, bud – I couldn't lose you. I c-couldn't… be alone again…" He was shaking his head ever so slightly, sobbing freely now.

'_Hiccup… I would never leave you… You could tear off my wings and legs and I'd still call you my friend. I just want… I wanted to stay with you…'_ The whimpers and tears that came from the two of them spoke multitudes of volumes of emotions and hidden truths between the two. Hiccup saw that Toothless, because both man and dragon feared him so greatly, was lonely too, desperate for the same kind of acceptance. When he finally had that acceptance, that friendship, in Hiccup, he was desperate to hold onto it; Hiccup was all he had too. They were both outcasts, both alone: how right, how natural was it that they had found what they were looking for in each other? The transcendence from the hatred felt from their comrades and ancestors seemed all the more clear now; in that one moment of enlightened innocence, everything made perfect sense.

"I had to leave… I had to abandon everyone and everything I knew. I wouldn't let them take you away, I'd die before that happened…" Hiccup cried. "I wouldn't stay… knowing what might happen…"

'_I wouldn't let you stay… I'd take you away myself if I knew. I'm sorry… I had no idea what you were going through…'_

Hiccup squinted his eyes through the tears and looked up at his dragon's sad, dilated eyes. He panted heavily, running out of air quickly and feeling nauseous as a result. He felt his vision slipping, the world around him fading into darkness. But he needed to say a few more words, these more than anything else…

"I love you, Toothless…"

'_I love you, too, Hiccup…'_

And with that, Hiccup finally passed out, his head limply hitting the ground. Toothless could only cradle him in his legs and wings and bring his head down to touch the crown of his boy's, shutting his own eyes and focused every thought on Hiccup's safety. Deep in his heart, he prayed to every force he could, every God and spirit that feasted in the halls of Valhalla… that those words would not be Hiccup's last.

* * *

><p><strong>I gotta tell you, it was pretty heart-rending writing this post-battle scene with Hiccup and Toothless. The inspiration for it came from the song 'Greatest Change' from the Legend of Korra soundtrack. Play it, just the beginning, sad part, while reading this. I am of sound belief that tears are gonna fall. Anyway, review, favorite, follow! <strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**I'm glad to see that last chapter was a tear-jerker for some, even those who didn't review. I assume you guys were busy blowing into tissues, at least I hope, LOL. Anyway, here's the next one, the last of my four original chapters. Enjoy!**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

* * *

><p>'… <em>Love?'<em>

Toothless's ears perked up at the word: from all sounds, it seemed like a voice, a dragon's voice. In the conversation that just occurred between him and Hiccup, his voice came out like a written message that could appear in the mind. Between dragons though, it came out like an actual voice, like humans actually speaking to one another: to them it was just roars and growls and chirps, but the dragons did have their own language. He had full talks with the other dragons that Hiccup had drought to Draak, relaying Hiccup's orders to them in case they didn't understand or just commenting about the daily activities of the humans that at times seemed so ridiculous to them. The voice he heard sounded as sad as his and his boy's were a moment ago, but it also sounded confused, outright lost, like that of a scared child separated from its parent.

Toothless turned his head and peered through the smog and mist that was slowly clearing as the first rays of sunlight to ever hit the island of dragons finally came down. Through the smog, mere feet away surrounding them from all directions, was the Queen's army of subject, every dragon they had seen before in the nest and were forced to fight while they were under her spell. But now that the Queen was gone, they had regained their senses: it appeared that they had left the nest once they had snapped out of it. It was a myriad of colors and shapes, every dragon ever seen and fought against by Vikings was now gathered there, watching the two. But something was different, Toothless could tell: their eyes, their bodies, their whole vibes, there was not a hint of bloodlust among them, no dragon seemed poised to attack, not a single talon or fang was bared. Perhaps they were just confused after just being released?

After an eternal pause, a lone dragon, a Deadly Nadder, stepped out from the crowd, approaching slowly so as not to startle the damaged Night Fury, who they could tell was still very dangerous. The Nadder could smell the blood and the rotting skin coming from somewhere near the Night Fury, but he knew the smell all too well from past raids. Not that he needed to be that perceptive, he had heard the Night Fury speaking to the human earlier – he knew it was there. For some reason, though the Night Fury seemed determined to protect it, shown when he clutched it tighter.

'_Please… don't hurt him…'_ Toothless begged, the look on his face more scared than fierce. The Nadder was shocked – the Night Fury, the most powerful and fearsome warrior among them, the Wings of Hel as he was known amongst dragon and the unholy offspring of lighting and death to humans, was afraid and begging!? To keep a human safe?

The Nadder stopped in its tracks completely. '_What did you say?'_

'_I said don't hurt him! Try it and I'll kill you!' _The ferocity returned and Toothless made the biggest roar he could at that moment. He did the only thing he could do to drive off any potential threats and bared his fangs. His body was near useless now, but he'd tear those limbs off himself to fight if he had to. He'd just taken down the Queen, he'd be damned if some Nadder would be the one to do him and Hiccup in.

'_No… what you said before. You said 'love.' Who did you say it to?' _The Nadder cocked his head and ruffled his wings, bowing his head to look as non-violent as possible.

Toothless' aggressive look died down only slightly, but still remained very evident, showing a glimpse of his sharp fangs that could rend the Nadder to shreds in an instant. Besides protecting Hiccup, and that was still top priority for him, these dragons had pushed him away due to fear of their own deaths without ever getting to know the real him. Societal and interpersonal problems were shared among both men and dragon, and both he and Hiccup knew too well that isolation could really bring out negative changes in a person, for whatever reason that isolation occurred. Now, however, he could use that fear to his advantage: so long as he was there, the other dragons wouldn't make a move on Hiccup – he was under the Night Fury's guardian wings now.

'_Why do you care?'_ He asked harshly. The Nadder winced at the tone, but recomposed himself.

'_It's a human, right? You have a human there with you – why would you want to protect one of them? You're a dragon, aren't you, humans are our enemies! They kill us without reason or mercy!'_ The Nadder argued, numerous barks and roars from the other dragons supporting him.

'_Not this human! He's different from the others!' _Toothless screeched.

'_Why? What makes this one human so special? What would make you choose him over your own kind!?' _The Nadder could help but let loose an accusatory tone in its squaks, even though he was more inquisitive than anything else. Word on the dragon grapevine was that there was a young human somewhere that was offering safe haven for dragons on a far-off island. He wondered if this human with the Night Fury was the one.

'_My kind? MY KIND!? Was I truly one of you; you seemed content to deem me as one of the demons humans accuse us of being!'_ Toothless's voice was starting to return and his roar more frightening and powerful by the second – dragons were, after all, notoriously fast healers. '_Did you have ANY idea how alone I was? I was ready to return to my sire of death, that solitude was so painful!' _All the dragons bowed their heads in shame for their treatment of him, born of fear, not even any hint of respect. They stayed away to stay alive, not caring how Toothless felt; they should have remembered he was a dragon like them, before anything else.

'_This human gave me what no one else did, and convinced me that life was still worth living! You think me a monster, then a traitor for that, but that was only on HER terms!'_

The Nadder's head jerked back up instantly not like it normally did with his bird-like was something about what he just said that reminded him of the current situation, something that didn't add up. The Night Fury with his higher intelligence seemed to know something they all didn't. '_What do you mean, WAS?' _The Nadder asked.

Toothless didn't answer: it seemed he'd rather let them piece it together on their own. Granted it took them a few moments, just standing there in silence, but it was that very silence that served as the vital clue needed. Something, or rather someone was missing – they were at the nest, and yet… and it hit them all like a Viking's hammer to the snout.

'_W-Where… where is the Queen?'_ He stepped back slightly, turning his head back and forth in search of her or any sign of her.

Toothless only narrowed his eyes and growled, bringing his tail around his wings to further shield Hiccup. '_This human… what he did for me, me personally, I can never repay him enough for. But what he did for us… for ALL of us… you should be bowing before him…!'_

The Queen had manipulated them and their ancestors for centuries to steal food and provide for her, indifferent to how many of their kin had lost their lives to the Viking tribes in the process. For every dragon that died, two more slaves could take its place, she figured, and what were silly, shiny, pointy rocks compared to dragon flames and claws. Families were torn apart because of her: hatchlings lost their parents, parents lost their hatchlings, comrades lost comrades, and yet she considered such needless tragedies beneath her. She may have been their ruler, but it was no stretch to say that every dragon in that nest hated her and prayed for the day to come when someone or something would destroy her and make her pay for the suffering she inflicted just because she couldn't find her own food or fight her own battles. If not for her, the dragons would have gladly left the humans alone, the only personal grudges against them being the deaths inflicted on their hands, and some dragons were still very sore about those.

The Nadder only stared back at Toothless silently, pondering the very meaning behind Toothless's cryptic words and their connection to the Queen's disappearance. Toothless only sighed in exasperation as Hiccup did most times – spending so much time together had caused their personalities to rub off on one another, as they did with good friends. Though Toothless would never admit to this, thinking his precious human friend at times utterly insane.

'_Behold the ashes that fall before you and litter the earth…" _Toothless called out to all the dragons present, who looked around and saw some flakes of ash still falling as well as the ones on the ground. Sniffing the air they could now tell that something was SERIOUSLY burnt. Some part of Toothless, still as mischievous and smug as ever would take great pleasure in seeing the reactions to come, but mostly he was too angry and sad to notice.

'_They are all that remain of Her wretched existence… the Queen… is no more.'_

A shrieking chorus of shock and disbelief resounded through the air: dragons flapped their wings erratically and some stumbled back until they tripped on the ground. The Queen, the second most powerful and mightiest dragon in the world, had fallen? The day they had dreamed of for so long had finally come to pass? The dragons felt like they should be jubilant, happy beyond measure that now their long suffering had been ended, and yet all that came was… confusion. Having been under the evil spell of the Queen for so long, it was so hard to imagine that they now had their free will again. That confusion was what soon after calmed the dragons down again, leaving them as silent as before. Though each and every one felt the growing tension in their hearts wringing them dry of the small comfort of understanding their collective realities.

'_And how did she meet her demise?' _The Nadder asked. At the very least, though, they figured they should know who had done the deed. Though based on Toothless' earlier reply, they already had a good idea.

Toothless narrowed his eyes and growled lowly, obviously uncomfortable, as he moved his wing above Hiccup to reveal his form to the Nadder slightly. He readjusted his claw to caress his boy's face, a sign of care and warning. The still mighty dragon shut his eyes in recollection between long centuries and short moments. '_This boy... he and I… in countless winters' times, the Queen's power was unmatched. No human could vanquish Her, no dragon could vanquish Her, not alone at least. I trembled as any of you would, even with my own might, at the thought of facing Her, but this human…_

'_Why… would a human… go so far for dragons?'_ The Nadder whimpered.

'_To protect us – that was his wish. He carried it out, and now we have a new future.'_

No dragon could even blink or breathe, each and every one unsure at what shocked them more, the fact that the Queen was gone forever or that a human had done the deed out of compassion for their kind. Least of all a human so small, but then again, the Night Fury seemed to see something much larger, much stronger in this little human than in any other. And somehow, the others were beginning to see it too, one by one, feeling something so unfamiliar, yet so wonderful at the same time. Looking at their eyes, Toothless could recognize the same thoughts and emotions that ran through the mind of the Changewing from a week earlier. For all the fear, all the pain and sadness, they wanted so desperately to believe that they now had a protector who cherished them, a leader who would stand for them.

Hiccup moved his left arm up slowly and placed it on Toothless's snout, alerting the dragon to the slightly cold touch. Toothless looked down to see if his boy had awakened, but huffed in disappointment and concern to see that Hiccup was still out cold. The move was entirely subconscious, but that was heartwarming in itself to know that Hiccup sensed how distressed he was out of pure instinct, like how the reverse usually was. This move didn't go unnoticed by the other dragons either; it scared them, mostly because of rejection since some didn't think they deserved it, but they wanted to feel such a touch themselves.

The Nadder moved slightly forward to approach Hiccup, entranced by his promise of love so greatly he was ignoring Toothless's growls. Hiccup shifted slightly and moved his arm away from Toothless snout, and to both dragons' surprise, placed it on the snout of the Nadder. The Nadder had stopped thinking entirely, but before long melted into the touch, his soul surging with a power he had never before experienced as it synchronized with that of the sleeping human, the darkness and light in both of them achieving some perfect, universal balance. He stepped back, and bowed his head to the ground and shut his eyes. The other dragons all followed suit

'_A-a new future… I… want-'_

"HICCUP!"

All the dragons jerked their heads up to notice a large Timberjack approaching the island, with, to the dragons' shock, several humans riding on its back. Toothless recognized them as Alta and the other teens from Draak. He assumed they must have followed them here a while after Hiccup and he had taken off for the nest. Bois landed on the shore of the beach, sweeping away the ashes and pebbles gathered in that spot. The teens clambered off of him, Alta rushing towards him and Hiccup while the others only stood taking in the scenery.

"What the heck happened here?" Nogard asked, noticing the giant hole in the side of the volcano and the rocks piled everywhere.

"I'd say Toothless wasn't too keen on finding an entrance…" Woh guessed.

"Are you kidding? No way Toothless did that going in!" Niart exclaimed pointing to the hole. "I'd say something else did… coming out…"

"Well, what could possibly have done that? Some super-mega dragon?" Nogard asked.

"Ah, well…" Niart sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "It's a distinct possibility…?"

"Forget the hole in the wall, take a look around, morons!" Ruoy shouted. They turned to find him staring face to face at the army of dragons circling them. Everyone yelped in panic and huddled together – even their Chief wouldn't survive against this many!

"Well, Mr. Viking Prodigy!?" Nogard quietly chastised to Ruoy while nervously gritting his teeth. "You wanna do something?"

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS! YOU THINK I CAN TAKE ON THIS MANY!?" Ruoy blurted out. The dragons flinched at the loud volume, some wanted to defend but still found themselves spinning at everything that happened with Hiccup.

"Great, thanks for shouting, Ruoy. Now we'll be dead a whole 5 minutes faster!" Woh complained.

They simply shut their eyes, expecting the attack that would bring their end, praying Valhalla would grant their souls passage. But after an eternal moment of waiting… nothing. Niart cracked open an eye to see the dragons were still there, just watching them showing no signs of attacking.

"Hey… guys? Shouldn't we be dragon food right about now?" He asked.

"If my understanding of Viking history is correct, then yes." Nogard sarcastically pointed out. "Then again, Hiccup's pretty much been turning history on its head ever since he showed up."

Ruoy still had his eyes shut waiting for death; it was true he had started to think a little better of dragons thanks in no small part to the flight over here on Bois, but that didn't mean he was now a dragon lover. In fact he was just waiting for the dragons to show aggressive behavior and confirm that Vikings had it right all along. He wanted to show up Hiccup and prove that he was smarter, that he was the one that everyone should have listened to all along. He had honestly had enough of the fishbone undermining his authority and gaining favor in the process. Nogard had been grasping his shoulder and shaking him to snap him out of it, but the young prodigy gave no response.

"I guess they aren't going to attack. Maybe Hiccup tamed them all before we got here; gotta say, he works fast!" Woh cheerfully spoke with her hands on her hips in pride.

"You think Hiccup did this? I don't know." Niart argued timidly. "As good as he is with dragons, I don't think even he could tame this many in such a short amount of time."

"You sure about that?" Nogard argued while still shaking Ruoy. "He's got some real charisma when it comes to dragons. He probably only needed to tame a few and the rest just… I don't know, came around."

"Maybe, but that doesn't explain the hole in the cliff side." Niart complained. "Hiccup couldn't possibly have done that, nor could any of these other dragons."

"I guess we'll just have to ask Hiccup about it." Nogard reasoned.

"Uh, speaking of Hiccup, where is he?" Woh finally asked. The three of them looked around, Nogard even forgetting about Ruoy, to look around, yet they found no sign of Hiccup anywhere. They suddenly remembered Alta, who had run off in the opposite direction, and looked to find her, calling out her name to the sea of scales and wings before them. While Ruoy had finally opened an eye to see that he was actually still alive, the others had managed to spot Alta over by a pile of rocks, next to Bois, a Nadder, and a black dragon that looked like Toothless, laying down on the ground. Determining that Hiccup must have been nearby, they all rushed to her side, Ruoy following after a few more moments. When they had gotten close they heard silent sobbing coming from her, her shoulders trembling.

"Alta?" Woh asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. She turned to face them all and left them all shocked to find tears cascading down her face like a waterfall.

"Hiccup… he's… he's…" Alta just fell into Woh's chest and squeezed her, sobbing uncontrollably. Woh had to wince a little at the strength of Alta's grip, but shared the concern she felt with the others that something terrible had happened to Hiccup. They looked to Toothless, but surprisingly, there was Hiccup, knocked out in his dragon's forelegs. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully, but the others couldn't help but notice the numerous bruises and burns racking his body as well as the pale tint of his skin.

"Wow, somebody did a number on him…" Nogard pointed out, eyes as wide as plates.

"I've only seen wounds that bad on the adults after raids." Niart gasped. "Was Hiccup… fighting a dragon?"

"I don't know, but…" Woh wondered, but her ears perked up at the sound of Hiccup's slight breathing. Looking from Alta to Hiccup she noticed that, although barely noticeable, Hiccup's thin chest was rising and falling, a sure indication that he was still alive. "Hiccup seems okay for now. We just need to take him to the elder and he'll be patched up good as new. Nothing to freak out about, Alta."

"N-No, you d-don't under-s-stand." Alta choked. "H-Hiccup, his-"

"GREAT ODIN'S GHOST! WHAT THE HEL HAPPENED TO HIS LEG!" They all heard Ruoy shout. They turned to glare at him, but quickly noticed that his skin was a mix between a disturbed white and a sickly green. He was staring hard at something enough for his eyes to pop out, and his breaths were short and forced, slowly turning into heaving. A look at what he was staring at soon provided the answer: Hiccup's leg was all but destroyed, blood flowing outward across the bunt, dead skin and protruding bone marrow and spots of black and green forming around the deep puncture marks shaped like dragon's teeth. Nogard and Niart suddenly felt week in the knees and collapsed to the ground, it was so horrifying and disgusting to look at.

"Dear gods…" Nogard said before feeling something in his stomach rise back up to his mouth. He shot his fist to his mouth to block it while using his other hand to hold his ill organ. "Up, there's my lunch."

"I-I-oh." Niart tried to speak, but his eyes rolled into his head and he fainted face-first to the ground before anything came out.

Woh just couldn't stop staring at the ruined appendage. "W-What happened?"

Alta managed to compose herself enough to rise from Woh's chest and take a deep breath to speak. She turned to Toothless and noticed that the dragon was staring at her expectantly. It didn't take a mind-reader to see that he was begging for her to help. She sucked another breath in and nodded; she had to take charge right now, or things would get ugly, she reasoned.

"We have to get him back to Draak, before the wound gets infected." She said as she shakily stood up. As strong as she tried to be, she couldn't hold back the tremble in her tone. "He doesn't have much time left.

The others agreed unanimously; Woh rushed to get the supplies they had brought as quickly as possible from Bois' back and brought it to Alta. Together, they had placed some medicinal herbs on Hiccup's useless leg and wrap it with clean bandages to stop the bleeding and hold back the wounds from worsening. They also placed bandages and a cloth soaked in the water on Hiccup's head to help the fever that was now building up. Nogard managed to get Niart back on their feet and snap Ruoy out of his stupor before he could follow Niart's lead, and together they carried Hiccup over to Bois, resting him on the dragon's spine. It wasn't perfect, or very comfortable at that, but it was the best they could do to transport him safely. The other teens got onboard Bois as well, with Alta at the front hovering over Hiccup to inspect his condition. Bois spread his wings wide, but just as he was about to lift off...

"Wait!" Niart shouted. "What about Toothless?" He gestured to the dragon that was still lying on the ground, looking at them with sad puppy-dog eyes.

"Good point," Nogard said. "We can't just leave him here, and it looks like he's in no condition to fly." They all knew that Toothless needed a rider to operate the tailfin that Hiccup had made for him. But aside from the bruises that Toothless had on his body, they noticed that the saddle was ruined, and the tailfin was nowhere to be seen. Without that prosthetic, Toothless was as good as grounded.

"Well, Bois can't take any more." Alta reasoned. "There's no way he can carry all of us AND a Night Fury all the way back!"

"And Hiccup won't be too happy to hear that we left his dragon behind." Woh said.

Ruoy growled his signature frustrated growl. "I told you we should have gotten Hairke and the other warriors before we left! They could have come in a ship and then we wouldn't have this problem! But NO! You HAD to be in a rush to go after your suicidal boyfriend!"

"Wait, so… you're worried about Hiccup and Toothless?" Nogard raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

"I'm NOT! I'm just worried that Draak will lose its surefire defense against the dragons by the time the next raid rolls in!" Ruoy argued, turning away to keep the others from seeing the blush on his face.

A roar came out from the mass of dragons behind them; turning they saw another large dragon coated in an armor of bones approach – a Boneknapper. The teens all gasped at the sight of the walking skeletal creature: Boneknappers were considered imaginary creatures to most Vikings since they were only seen by one or two throughout the Archipelago, said to be searching for the perfect bones to complete its armor. Very little was known about them due to this, so it was only logical for them to raise their guards up again, with even Bois doing the same to protect them. The Boneknapper only passed by them and made eye contact with Toothless, before looking at a couple of his legs and one of his wings, and finally turning to them and letting out a small growl. The teens were confused for a moment before Alta made a guess at its strange behavior.

"You'll… carry him home?" She asked. The teens gasped when the Boneknapper nodded its head as if it understood her. No mindless beast could do such a thing, they all agreed looking at each other.

"All right then. Follow us." Bois finally took to the sky, hovering over the peak of the island; the Boneknapper lifted up slightly and scooped Toothless up in his claws, lifting him up with no problem. The two dragons made their way towards Draak, but as the teens looked back to the foreboding island where the nest was, they gasped in shock to see that every one of the dragons gathered there had taken off after them, and were now following them back.

"W-What are they doing?" Niart asked.

"Don't tell me they want to come back with us!" Ruoy shouted angrily.

"Well, we all wanted dragons." Nogard stated, remembering the conversation they had on the way over to the nest. "At least now, we'll have a wider selection."

Alta looked back to see the plethora of dragons that were flying back with them: she was surprised at all the different types she saw. Some were so rare that they had never even been seen before by other Vikings, much to the relief of said Vikings. But what shocked and impressed her the most was the feeling she saw in each pair of eyes that hers happened to cross upon despite the distance between them. It was a shining blaze as radiant and powerful as the sun itself that reflected another she had seen in the eyes of the Vikings. It was a look they gave whenever they were led into battle, a look they constantly gave her father: a gaze of true, undying loyalty, and each and every one was aimed right at Hiccup. It was clear now that like Toothless, these dragons were ready to fight and die on his behalf; they pledged their lives to this boy, ready to stand by his side no matter what fate threw their way. A small smile crept on her face seeing that – to inspire such a look, Hiccup really was an incredible boy.

"I don't know." Alta said still looking at the dragons. "But at least... I don't think we'll be getting raids anymore."

* * *

><p>Hairke stood on the small hill his house was situated upon, simply staring out at the horizon as his daughter had when waiting for Hiccup. A blank expression crossed his face entirely, the hairs on his beard and his tunic fluttering in the cold winter breeze, creating goose bumps on his thick skin. For all the cold temperature did, he just continued to stand like a statue. For the first time in his career as chief, no, for the first time in his life, he had never felt so… unsure.<p>

Two weeks had passed since that fateful day when his daughter and her friends had brought Hiccup in, unconscious and injured. At first the villagers nearly had heart attacks when they saw the dragon fleet following them, and they instantly drew their weapons ready for the full-out assault their ancestors had prophesized would come. Alta, however, managed to reassure them that all the dragons were harmless, with Toothless running up out of nowhere and barking out in a full-blown panic. Everyone was startled at this, but Alta then pointed out Hiccup's critical condition, and he was brought to the healer's house without a moment's delay. The humans and dragons all crowded at the windows to see what was happening, and it soon tuned into a full-on brawl to get the better view – the healer had to angrily chase them away to get any work done. Her work was completed after 5 hours of strenuous silence, much to everyone's relief: Hiccup's fever had broken and his injuries were treated, but unfortunately there was nothing that could be done to save his leg. To the horror of Alta and Toothless, which would forever haunt them in the years to come, his leg had to be amputated. The Vikings all had to corral the dragons away, terrified that they would burn the whole village in panic once they saw the huge blade Hairke had cleave his leg from right below his knee. To have to remove the limb of someone so young – Hairke swore he would never forget such a terrible feeling for as long as he lived.

Hiccup remained comatose for the whole time until just yesterday, when he finally woke up to see Toothless at his bedside. He came out of the hut leaning on the head of his dragon like a crutch, his face covered in the slobber of the happy Night Fury. People rushed over to him, including the teens, and insisted that he return to the healer's house to rest more, but Hiccup said he was just fine, although his wobbly knees and exhausted eyes did little to reinforce his claim. Still, no one argued as they were all dying to hear about what he had discovered on that island; Hairke led him and all the villagers over to the Great Hall and seated them while Hiccup remained supported by Toothless at the center, just before the pit, with all the dragons waiting right outside.

No one was prepared for the tale of the grandiose battle he and Toothless had fought, against and evil Queen Dragon that was controlling all the others, forcing them to raid villages and bring back the food they stole to feed her. That Queen, who the villagers had decided to label as the Red Death, was the driving force behind 300 years of war, and now because of Hiccup, she was gone, and so the war was over. Hiccup had risked his very life to save them and put an end to the suffering of humans and dragons alike, so now, what was there for men like Hairke, who had spent his entire life fighting dragons? He had said that he didn't expect Hiccup to change the world in a single night, he recalled; expectations like that were simply too much to place on a boy, and yet here he was having done just that and lived to tell the tale. Should Hairke have been happy that this terrible battle was done, or mad that Hiccup robbed him of his purpose in life? Honestly, he just didn't know.

Logo walked up behind Hairke's still form and placed a hand on his shoulder, then man giving no reaction to the sudden contact. "Silver for yur thoughts, old friend?"

"We have lived our lives, as our forefathers have…" Hairke started after a short pause, looking down to where the teens and younger children were, playing with some Terrible Terrors, "… and expected out children to do the same. Through battle, inherited from one generation to the next…"

"Aye, that we have." Logo agreed.

"Did any of us truly believe that it would be our age when it would all come to an end? Did anyone know beyond any doubt that the day when peace would finally come was within their own lifetime waiting?" He bowed his head continuing, scoffing at the ridiculousness of it all. "Those who had been raised as warriors – we resigned ourselves to death knowing that we'd laid down our lives defending what was ours, and aided in carryin' on what we figured a proud legacy. A sweet dream: that was all it truly was, the dream of a future where bloodshed was but a sour memory." Hairke shuddered at the thought of his daughter laying as a corpse on the field of battle, a sword protruding from her chest and her life blood spilled on the earth. He'd spent his life ensuring that that horrible sight never came to be, even if it came to be him in that position. He had been willing to believe that if his death came to pass, Alta would somehow make it on her own. But only now, when it was all done, did he realize how foolish that was: he would die, and she'd be left to grieve and take upon herself his mantle and all the burdens that came with it. Death only provided release for the ones who died, he realized.

"Nuthin' wrong with dreamin'," Logo reasoned. "Yur daughter's livin' proof o' that."

"Dreams such as hers are meant for those who dream beyond war; ours were for men that had given up the war before they'd even fought it." He chuckled ironically. "We'd trapped ourselves and our children in an endless cycle; to think it took a boy losing his leg and come close to dying to help us see that."

"Aye, he's somthin', all right." Logo agreed – to think a boy would accomplish what no Viking before him could, all because he was wise enough to find another way. "But then, you already knew that, didn't ya?" He playfully nudged Hairke's arm with his elbow to try to lighten the mood, but Hairke's solemn face remained, much to Logo's disappointment.

"All that remains is to accept things as they now are, but for those who'd practically been born wielding a sword." Hairke looked down at the dragons who were just standing around, watching the proceedings of the village, still just as confused and probably just looking for something to do. "Or otherwise…"

"Easier said than done," Logo finished.

Hairke gave a long, heavy sigh, keeping his eyes on the dragons. "Am I supposed to just let these dragons in, after all that's happened? Would anyone else? Would you?"

"What's done is done, Hairke," Logo answered. "Trust me, I get it: it's not easy to just forgive and forget in the face of all we've lost." He paused to recall his dear apprentice, who had been so young and still had so much to live for when he died. Logo had to wonder himself if his apprentice would welcome the changes; he was so much like Hiccup, so maybe he would. Logo could almost picture that boy befriending a dragon and changing everything for Draak just as Hiccup did. "But I think it's gotta be fur the sake of all that we've lost that we have to make changes."

"Change is not an easy thing, my friend." Hairke argued.

"An' you've got just about every Viking in the archipelago ta back you up on that." Logo chuckled. "But like it or not, it's a necessary thing, and if you think about it, it's pretty much unstoppable." Hairke turned to him, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Kids who've been born with swords in their hands, as you said, they grow up to swing 'em, don't they? I'd say that's some pretty big change right there."

"How do you figure that?" Hairke asked. "Babes can swing around toy bludgeons just fine, what separates that from a sword?"

"Simple," Logo started. "It comes down to why you swing 'em. Ma father always said a sword, or any weapon for tha' matter, is heavier than it appears ta be. You prove yourself a warrior when you learn to handle that weight."

A warrior always carried a heavy burden – the weapon they wielded was an incarnation of that. They carried the fates of the ones they fought for and took the lives of the ones they fought against, even if those who wielded them never considered all that in the heat of battle. Blood was much heavier than anyone though, especially now, knowing the woes of the dragons they used those weapons to hurt. The dragons had their own family members, friends, even lovers that they fought for – killing them was seen to be no different from killing humans like pirates or invading tribes. Hiccup, a boy, was sure to now understand that feeling himself, even if he had no weapon to see it with; a person's hands could carry the same stains a weapon could. As evil as it was, and how many good things came with its end, the Red Death was still a dragon, a living creature – thinking of that last part only made Hairke more sick. Now that Hiccup carried its death on his conscience, he was sure to see things much more differently, and Hairke realized, that that in itself was a form of change, as Logo said.

"Let's just look a' the bright side of things fer now. War's done, whatever comes after, we'll find out when we get there." Logo slapped Hairke's shoulder lightheartedly to once again drop the serious mood. This time it worked as Hairke let out a soft chuckle. The straightforward approach always seemed to be a favorite of Vikings; at least that wasn't changing anytime soon.

Hairke walked forward to the very edge of the hill to observe all his people, both old and new, down in the plaza and all throughout the village. They all turned up to face him; from the way he stared down, it seemed he had something important to say. Everyone needed to know what came next for them, in these days of going through the motions, trying to adapt to this new world, and so give him their full attention. It was a leader's duty to guide his people, especially in times of uncertainty; Hairke knew that, and felt all the more pressure because of it, wondering if he might guide his people down the wrong path. Then again, Hiccup must have wondered that himself when he went to face the Red Death, if what he did might make a difference or if he was just writing his own sentence. Leaders, he reasoned, were no different than anyone else, though, at that point, though he didn't think of himself as a leader, he still showed many of the traits of one, Hairke saw, and Hiccup just figured he'd do his best and hope that things would work out. He needed to do the same now.

"My people…" Hairke called out to the gathering crowds below. "Today is a new dawn for all of us, and there is no going back to what once was. We turn our backs on the traditions that guided us, made life easier for us, however brief it might have been; customs and rites that seemed natural to us, only revealed to be barbaric drabble that gave us an excuse to spill blood."

Everyone looked down at this: no one on either side was truly innocent, but what mattered was as the chief said, abandoning what stupid rules they chose to follow in the past. People wanted to change, for the first time, the different things in life seemed a lot more inviting to them.

"Whatever our own dilemmas may be, let us not forget of the greatest good that has come of this: we are free of the hatred that once bound us, and now our grandchildren will never know of the evils of war." This statement perked everyone up as they looked to their chief again, small smiles appearing on their faces, as well as on Hairke's face. "What lies before us, though, that is the difficult part. I cannot truly say, in fact, that I have an answer: perhaps that is a question that can only be answered by the one who showed us the good in change. If I may speak for him, though, I'd say that now we can begin to walk the proper path. A time of both challenge and prosperity faces us, but one thing that has not changed, and I know doesn't need to change, is that we will be ready to face it. Together, we can rid ourselves of the scars and lines that divided us, and create something much better from the ashes of old. Who's with me!?"

Everyone cheered loudly, Vikings and dragons letting out roars of pride and confidence. Who was to say what lied in their future, but they were indeed ready to face it, and perhaps the path was already shown to them. Logo walked over to his friend's side and gave him a look to communicate this.

"Ah, no tellin' where this is gonna go," Logo said placing his hands on his hips.

"I know, old friend," Hairke said. "What becomes of this change… is up to him."

* * *

><p>"Come on, slowpoke, hurry up!" Alta called out into the distance, continuing to jog through the thick forest beyond the village. A few seconds passed before Hiccup finally came up walking, or rather limping, alongside Toothless, holding on tight to the dragon's head for needed support, with Alvis babbling and holding on to Toothless' back where the saddle was. Hiccup was still getting used to the prosthetic leg Logo had made for him, a wooden block tied to a metal spring that acted as his foot. When he first woke up with it attached, he was horrified but somehow had managed to hold it all in; really, it surprised him at how calmly he reacted to the overwhelming change. Having this limb would mean he would have to learn how to do basic things like walk, run, jump and swim all over again, and the first time was none to pleasant. He'd recalled times when his father had tried to drown him in the ocean to teach him how to swim, or threaten to club his head in to teach him how to run. He supposed what made him calm was the fact that now he and Toothless were truly one in the same now, both missing a piece of themselves, taken by the other, along with the fact that he'd decided he'd make a few tweaks to the leg to better suit his preferences.<p>

"You know, walking with a metal foot isn't as easy as I'm sure I make it look! Where are we going, anyway?" Hiccup questioned as Alta suddenly rushed up to him and dragged him through the woods to a large clearing in the tall pine trees. Toothless appeared right behind him soon after, moving as fast as he could without disturbing Alvis.

Hiccup was heavily panting, his hands on his jelly-like knees continuously failing to catch his breath. His stamina had been significantly reduced since he hadn't spent much time awake and his body was still recovering, and the added weight of the metal limb only made him more tired. Alta had been warned by the elders and her father not to push Hiccup too much, but she was so excited she had forgotten completely, and now was just crossing her arms and tapping her foot waiting for Hiccup to get his bearings.

"This counts as cruel and unusual punishment, I'll have you know! What is this all about?" Hiccup managed to loudly complain in between breaths.

"I wanna ride Toothless!" She exclaimed suddenly when he finally calmed himself and looked up at her, jumping up and down like a hyperactive 5 year old.

Hiccup gave her an obvious 'what the hel' look with his mouth still hanging wide open. "Seriously? You've already flown on a dragon – you told me you flew Bois all the way to the nest. Why drag me all the way out here to ride some other dragon, namely Toothless?"

Alta was still bouncing as she answered. "I want the full dragon-riding experience, why else?"

"But that doesn't explain what makes Toothless so special." Hiccup said, earning him a slap from the dragon's tail. Hiccup rubbed his cheek to ease the pain of the fresh mark and glared daggers at Toothless. "You know what I mean, stupid lizard!" Toothless just rolled his eyes and smirked – obviously his doting, overprotective phase of waiting by his bedside expecting him to wake up was over.

"You're the best dragon rider around, and no dragon matches up to a Night Fury like Toothless." Alta said, finally calm and placing her hands on her hips. Clearly she wasn't satisfied with just flying from one place to another. Like she said, she wanted the full experience, and that came with all the daredevil, haphazard tricks Toothless was known to do.

"Okay then," Hiccup said with a sigh, automatically climbing on top of Toothless, locking his metal foot into the new stirrup that Logo had constructed with a click. The new tailfin that Logo constructed with the help of Hiccup's blueprints opened up all the way – it was a red leather fin with the top half of a skull and a bone running through one of its eyes on it, the symbol of the Bone Heads. "Just be careful with Alvis, alright? You may be ready to risk your life, but I don't think I'm ready to have my kid do the same." He picked Alvis up off the front of the saddle and handed her to Alta, her hands taking both of his sides and holding the infant against her.

Alta's smile melted off her face before she started looking around her own body, looking for something on her person it seemed. Her face suddenly brightened up and she handed Alvis to Hiccup and rolled up her shirt slightly exposing her soft skin. Hiccup, with his hormones raging, felt his face flush and burn with the reddest blush he had ever had, thinking she might do something a bit perverted.

"What are you-" Hiccup started to ask, but stopped himself upon realizing that Alta had a rope hanging in a large coil at her hip. Once her shirt was rolled up, she took the rope and wrapped it three times around her waist like a belt. She undid the small knot that was against the rope tied around her near the first end of the rope, took back Alvis and gently tied the rope around his own small waist before tying the other end of the rope to the ring on Toothless's saddle that Hiccup's own safety harness was also hooked onto. She gave a smart look at Hiccup, who was still blushing, easily able to tell what the immature boy might have been thinking, as she climbed onto Toothless back with Alvis in her grip.

"Uh, y-you know, I did that same thing a while ago," Hiccup pointed out, sweeping back his bangs and trying to forget those dirty thoughts by clearing his throat. He had never felt so embarrassed in his life.

"Good," Alta said straightly with that same knowing look fixated onto him. "Then it isn't a bad idea to tie a rope around him." She gripped Hiccup's waist with her other hand, returning the blush to his face slightly. She put Alvis down and wrapped her other arm around him as well, sandwiching the baby in between the two teens.

"We're going on an adventure!" Alta shrieked readily gazing up at the sky, jiggling up and down in the saddle and giving Toothless a makeshift back massage.

"Hold on tight!" Hiccup warned gripping the rope and crouching down. Toothless rose to his hind legs and took off at a near perfect vertical angle. His speed was like that of an arrow, rocketing upward so quick the skin of his three riders flapped back and their hair flew the same way. The trees had been reduced to dots in mere seconds and they shifted directions to fly forward over the ocean. Alta screamed in pure excitement, even literally throwing caution to the wind and throwing her hands outward to feel the full force of the wind on her body. Alvis started giggling like crazy again: Hiccup swore that kid was born to fly, he took after his father that way.

Hiccup steered Toothless as they started spinning, swiveling and doing loop-de-loops in the air; Toothless took no shortage of delight in Alta's shrieks and screams, loving the enthusiasm that seemed infectious among all three of his riders. When he'd decided she was ready for more, they turned and fell for the ocean, pulling up only a second before hitting the water, skimming along the surface and letting the tiny drops of water tickle and refresh the children's faces. Toothless took notice of Hiccup's face and saw the wide beaming smile: it filled his heart to see Hiccup so happy and unrestricted by that new leg. He could tell his rider needed cheering up, and flying was just what the doctor ordered. They pulled back up to the sky and started swerving and looping around some more, bobbing up and down throughout the sky. After a while of the demented roller-coaster ride, Toothless settled down and began gliding along, allowing the four of them to simply take in the view.

Alta ran her hand through the now salmon colored clouds, softly grasping the clumps of air and feeling their soft touch as well as the moisture within freeze her fingers as they flew toward the sunset. Toothless climbed up past the lower clouds to a virtual maze filled with large towering columns of them mimicking the sea stacks far below. The rays of the sunset shined upon the clouds, creating brilliant golden hues across the sky scape, taking Alta's breath away. Rising even higher into the clear sky that was only now being redone with the first signs of night, Alta could see shooting stars above, flying past them in blazes of glory, her eyes widening in wonder as she followed their path until they were gone from sight. Hiccup soon redirected Toothless back to Draak, pulling him down from the clouds and giving Alta a stunning clear view of the sunset behind her, the last beams of its light shimmering upon the water behind her.

"He's even more amazing than I thought," Alta mused, petting Toothless side. "And I already thought he was amazing." Toothless looked back at her and grunted in satisfaction.

"He's a great dragon," Hiccup agreed. "And an amazing friend. I never would have figured that my first friend would be a dragon, but he was always there for me when I needed him."

"Didn't fit in at Berk, huh?" Alta asked the obvious in an obvious voice.

"You know well and good that no one appreciated me back there," Hiccup pointed out with a cold tone, bitterly looking down to his hands gripping the rope. "'Specially not my father."

"Hey, it's just like I've been saying, Hiccy," Alta said, the wind blowing her hair back, pressing her finger and pushing against Hiccup's baby-like cheeks. Hiccup looked out the corner of his eye to hide the blush at her nickname. "If they can't accept you for who you are, they shouldn't have you at all! Really, just forget about them, they were the ones dumb enough to pass you by!"

Hiccup thought about her words for a few moments, his silence catching Toothless' attention and eliciting a soft coo from him. Toothless was reinforcing Alta's advice, Hiccup deduced, with his eyebrows furrowing down. He let out a hefty scoff and chuckled under his breath ironically. "You know what? You're right! What's it to me what happens to those jerks? I mean, I beat the Red Death and pretty much solved everybody's problems with the raids – I shouldn't care! What those guys do now is not my problem!" He could say he missed them a tiny bit and was worried about all his old neighbors, but then he'd be lying. What did he miss: Snotlout's pompous attitude and constant bullying? The twins' dangerous pranks and deadly sense of humor? The villagers pelting him with everything from rude comments to rotten fruit? Astrid's cold indifference at it all? Or his father's exasperated looks of shame and annoyance at him? Berk provided a lot of memories, and none of them were good; Hiccup figured it was finally time to do what everyone else was now preparing to do and put the past behind him.

Hiccup finally turned and smiled at her. "Thanks, I… I always felt there was something holding me back, but I think now I'm finally ready to move on with my life. You know, you're a pretty magnificent friend too," he praised.

"Thanks Hiccup," Alta said, patting Hiccup's shoulder and offering a warm smile in consolation. "Hey, maybe one day, they'll realize just how much they need you." She shrugged.

"Yeah, like around Ragnarok." Hiccup deadpanned sarcastically. Alta laughed at the joke, it probably would take the end of the world for those idiots to realize just what Hiccup to offer. Really, in the face of everything he had done, Hiccup had gone from amazing to god-sent in her eyes. She and everyone else could see what he truly was and what he could become, in fact they probably knew him better than he knew himself. It was so astounding how greatly he had changed everything for them, and she knew things were only get better from her. Just now, though, the rest of the world could wait; right now, she only saw herself and Hiccup, what awaited them, and it made her heart beat faster and faster.

Just as the sun was about to come down over the horizon and dusk was about to fall, they had reached the edge of the woods outside of Draak. Hiccup landed Toothless on the spot just outside the border of the forest, upon a small meadow that led to the sandy beaches on the west side, the tides shifting upon the shores of sand and crashing against the rocks to the side. Hiccup leapt off the saddle and checked on Alvis, untying the rope that Alta secured on him and giving his belly a little tickle, getting more giggles in return. He shook his prosthetic and prepared himself for the long trek home, giving Toothless' head a good rub and securing himself against his dragon's side; that's when he turned around and noticed that Alta was staring at him with her hands behind her back, a slightly dreamy expression on her face. She was only inches away from him and shuffling ever closer, causing Hiccup's face to blush hard once again, this time with as much heat as when he stared at Astrid back on Berk.

"S-something wrong?" Hiccup slightly stuttered.

"Oh, nothing." Alta said, taking a step towards him, forcing Hiccup to taking a step back. Alta felt she was now really looking at him for the first time, how his vibrant green eyes simply radiated like the moon in the night sky, the beautiful shade of auburn that his flowing locks were, and how cute his cheeks were decked out in freckles. He spoke softly, but could roar like a dragon when he needed to, he was nothing short of a genius in the forge crafting the most incredible inventions in his imagination and bringing them out into the real world so swiftly. His shoulders… they seemed much broader now, and when he wasn't limping, he stood a bit taller, but that came with being a hero. She continued to move forward, taking all these features in and more.

"Uh, w-we should probably get you home," Hiccup said nervously backing up two small steps for every one of Alta's large ones. He gestured back to the village's direction with a point of his thumb. "Your dad's probably wondering where you are and-"

Alta remained silent and gently backed him into a tree as she leaned in on him. Hiccup let out an audible gulp and started sweating buckets despite the frigid temperature at how close he was to a girl. In this light, she did seem significantly more attractive, Hiccup admitted, leagues above Astrid, but where would he end up with her if he decided to blurt that out. Hiccup simply grasped the tree with clawed out hands, scratching the bark with his fingernails frantically like a dragon catching the side of a cliff, and tried to back further in, but to his dismay couldn't. Hiccup looked to Toothless for backup, only for Toothless to smirk smugly and shift around before laying down on the ground with his tail curled around him. If that didn't say 'you're on your own,' Hiccup didn't know what did.

"Um, Alta," Hiccup said in a cracked pubescent voice, ignoring Toothless' betrayal. "I'm getting really freaked out right now."

"Maybe that's a good thing," Alta said with a sly smile, pressing her hands against his small chest. She turned her head slightly and closed her eyes, coming in and pressing her soft, cherry-sweet lips against his own. Hiccup soon shut down and followed suit, kissing her right back and wrapping his arms around her waist, regaining his balance and standing tall.

That was the real start of something entirely new, the real start to the new life to a hiccup.

* * *

><p><strong>You can see it picks up with the kiss between the two lovebirds like it did in the original. Alright, time to lay it down – this is where updates are gonna come in a lot slower than before. As I said in one of the previous chapters, I had most of these all typed up beforehand, and this is where they stop. Between this, my other story 'Dragon's Hero,' and the rest of my life, I don't know when next I'll update, but I have been thinking of something.<strong>

**I noticed that the last few chapters of NightShade's version of the story suffered on account of writer's block, and I was thinking of reworking the plot. Make some more original chapters like these; I can think of some stuff, hopefully spice it up a bit more. I'll think about it as we go on but in the meantime, tell me what you think of the story so far. As always, review, favorite, follow!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey, everybody, sorry for the wait. I hope you're all enjoying the story so far, and I'm glad to see you guys enjoyed my original chapters. Now we can continue with the story, and here's the good part, where we get to the timeskip! This is where things start to get juicy!**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

* * *

><p>A black shape zoomed with incredible speed across the surface of the ocean, the waters parting in the wake of its wings and ever-building acceleration. Drops flew apart into the air like the sparks from a sharpened sword or axe blade against the grindstone. It was a dragon, jet black with sharp green eyes, with ropes, cables and straps around its body connected to its saddle. Atop it was a human lying against the dragon's back on his stomach; he was wearing black leather armor with a belt strapped over his chest and large shoulder guards atop a brown vest and green tunic, with belts and straps around his waist and stomach. On his arms were leather gauntlets with numerous straps and fingerless gloves, and cylindrical spools on the bottom. His pants were green, strapped with brown leather lining that wrapped around his legs, with a holster on his right leg for a metal object; he wore a leather boot on one leg, while his left foot was a wooden mount with a metal hook attachment locked onto the modified stirrup on the left side of the dragon. His face was covered by a black spiked mask that covered every part of his face but his eyes. He was holding tightly onto the steering bar attached to the saddle, steering the dragon like a captain would a ship, using his leg to make adjustments to the dragon's red tailfin at a moment's notice, exactly as the dragon shifted in another direction.<p>

They barrel rolled underneath a row of Thunderdrum dragons swimming nearby, leaping out of the water like fish in a frenzy. As the Thunderdrums reached the highest point of the jump, the black dragon side twirled through, barely even grazing their bellies and dodging their spread out wings entirely. They continued to navigate through the school after pulling out of their rolls, moving forward and back, left and right around them, gliding up along their arched spines. Not a single movement was wasted, each one melded with the last and the next in a fluid dance of aerial grace. The rider soon readjusted himself into a sitting position as his dragon flew up high into the sky; they fell back down with a massive smile and a roar of joy from the dragon, dropping through the air and feeling the rush of the wind against their backs. The dragon pulled back up effortlessly in a quick ascension back up into the clouds.

The rider wordlessly adjusted a lever along the stirrup with his prosthetic leg while pulling up another lever on the side, locking the tailfin behind in place. He unclipped himself from the saddle, and pressed his hands down on it before leaping up and placing his feet atop. Crouching down, he soon straightened himself and stood completely upright, placing one foot forward and bringing out his arms slightly to maintain his balance. The black dragon looked back at him with a slightly annoyed look but the rider only returned it with a wink; they continued to soar through the clouds, surfing along their shapes and grinding against the moving air currents like rails, gaining slight altitude though the dragon could only glide.

With the escape of those currents, they performed all kinds of tricks, such as spinning like a pinwheel while the rider grasped the bar on the saddle, or hopping up while the dragon spun in place before landing down on its realigned body. Such techniques were performed with the skill and expertise of a master snowboarder, using wind in the place of curved snowy mountains.

The rider finally ended with a leap off the saddle and down into the clouds, the black dragon diving down right after him. They spun together in unison with one another, looking at each other with bright, excited eyes. Miles before the ocean's surface approached, the rider focused towards it, and pulled a string along the side of his pants, grabbing the leather that suddenly appeared. The leather spread out in the form of makeshift wings that caught the air and pulled him back upwards. The dragon followed suit by opening his wings up and leveling back up with his rider; together they glided through the sky with the clouds surrounding them at every turn. The rider pressed a button on his suit that engaged a dorsal fin on the back of his armor, allowing him to further control his flight pattern. The rider looked back at his dragon, who offered him a curious, playful look and zoomed forward until he was right behind him; the two soon dove for the sea below, parting before they could ram into a breaching wild Scauldron who dove back into the water after a wide leap like a whale.

They approached a large rock sticking out of the water, and at the first sight of it, the rider pressed his fingers against a pad on the palm of his gloves, activating the mechanism inside his coils. The two shot out strong metal cables that hooked onto the stone feet above his current altitude; pressing the coils again caused them reversed the rotation and caused them to retract, but the stuck hooks only engaged the retraction from the opposite end. The rider was instead pulled up towards the hooks, shot forwards by the pull of the cables.

Once at a high enough position, he gave a sharp yank and pulled the hook right out of the rock, bringing out tiny bits of rock as well, pulling the cables back in completely and leaving him to fall squarely into the saddle of the dragon, who had sped into the exact position. He reattached himself into the saddle and pulled the levers back again, shifting the fin and pulling up on the bar, adjusting the dragon's body to rotate on his side and swing up along the surface of the rock, mere inches from it, spiraling upward and landing on its top in perfect condition.

The top of the rock was covered in soft grass with bits of rock sticking out; there were tall pine trees standing right behind them that gave the strong fresh scent of healthy growth. The rider fell from the saddle and tucking his leather wings back into his armor before kneeling down upon the ground. He then triggered a small crank on the side of his prosthetic leg, working the metal cuff and the coil inside that switched the riding hook with another metal foot with cleats attached to the bottom. He rose back to his feet while his dragon licked his paw and cleaned himself, taking off his helmet and revealing his matured face. He had long, thick auburn hair that extended down to his neck, radiant forest green eyes, and a hardened jawline and cheek bones that showed evident signs of adulthood. He shook his head to clear any more stray strands of hair from his face.

This was none other than Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, and his dragon, the legendary Night Fury Toothless, the pair that brought peace between man and dragons.

Hiccup took one look at the vast scenery before him: a foggy landscape across the ocean of grassy hills and autumn trees with maple leaves in all hues of red, orange, and yellow, with two large mountains in the distance. He inhaled with a deep breath that filled his strengthened chest. No longer the scrawny, lightweight, puny excuse for a Viking he used to be, he was still smaller than most, but he still stood taller than some, his voice deepened, and now he was in much better shape. Hiccup was very glad that he lacked the overbearing quantities of bulk that most other Vikings had, which in reality were just fat that somehow spread all around, mostly to their stomachs. Like Toothless, his body was now lithe and strongly defined with pure muscle tone, biceps and abdominals among other muscles standing out upon an athletic-shaped figure.

His stronger body was a perk, but Hiccup was more than happy he also maintained his powerful intelligence, which had only grown more so with everything that had happened. Vikings could barely even keep up with him in conversation anymore, especially anyone on Berk, that was for sure. He let out a sigh, releasing the breath he had stored earlier and deflating his chest, calming him and relieving some of the pressure he had inside.

"Ah, where does the time go?"

* * *

><p>To say the last six years were eventful would be the understatement of the century.<p>

So much was happening in Hiccup's life, he though at times it was just some crazy dream; six years ago he and Toothless had slayed the Red Death, a colossal dragon that had been controlling other dragons to steal food from the Vikings and instigating a war that lasted for 300 years. Now that it was gone, Hiccup had to prepare for the next great challenge: adapting the dragons to Viking society. There were plenty of problems, what with the dragons swiping food from wheelbarrows and houses, landing atop the roofs and caving them in due to their excessive weight, crashing through buildings while chasing each other, and of course the showers of dragon dung that came around the same time every day. The Bone Heads were knowledgeable in some part with handling dragons thanks to Hiccup's lessons, but with this many problems and more coming from just as many dragons, they were at their wits' end. Their food supplies were running severely low with so many more mouths to feed, and houses were breaking down faster than they could build them; it was almost as bad as the raids, some thought. Hiccup was overwhelmed with all the complaints and questions he had been bombarded with each day, and Toothless had to wrestle through throngs of Vikings just to get some alone time with his boy.

Thankfully, Hiccup was able to figure out a way to channel their natural wild behavior into more productive ends, and with the Bone Heads more confident about riding dragons thanks to the other teens, things were that much easier. He assigned groups of new dragon riders out into the seas around Draak to help with the fisherman – their fire blasts and ability to fly over to where there were large gatherings of fish allowed them to catch ten times as many fish as they had before with less than half the work, easily satisfying both species with a near week's catch for both. Perches made from refined logs with stone supports were built over the houses so the dragons could land safely and securely, and their dragon dung, which was discovered to be an excellent fertilizer, was redirected to fall upon the farmers' crops, resulting in more bountiful harvests with rich tasting vegetables and grains. The Bone Heads had so much food on their hands, they hardly knew what to do with it, save for hold a grand banquet in celebration of Hiccup's sheer genius.

It was on the night of said banquet that Hiccup decided to announce another big plan he had for the village: he wanted to start a Dragon Training Academy on the island, where rather than just training to kill them, prospective students could learn more about dragon abilities, behavior, habitats, and of course learning to ride them. Having new dragons brought into the Academy would also warm them up to the idea of human riders and get them more comfortable around the Vikings. Hairke and the Bone Heads unanimously agreed to the arena, and set up the Academy in the old Kill Ring, since it was the only place big enough to hold multiple dragons and people. Hiccup and Alta were elected to be the teachers and the owners of the Academy, and they had droves of applicants for the first day, including the other teens; Hiccup was glad beyond measure to see these major steps towards progress, yet he couldn't help but feel empty somewhere inside. It was strange, to say the least, but he couldn't help but feel unfulfilled despite everything that had happened, some voice screaming at him in the back of his head saying he needed something more.

It was around the time of his fifteenth birthday that he discovered what was nagging him so: staring up at the sky with all the different dragons flying throughout it reminded him of the day he had first left Berk with Toothless. He had remembered deciding that the two of them would live the lives of nomads and travel the world seeing everything that there was to see and finding all kinds of new adventures and dragons. Seeing the dragons fly towards the horizon made him realize that the need to explore hadn't left him, and over the course of days it had only grown stronger. He also remembered the promise he made to himself and to the dragons that now he would protect them, and as happy as he was that it led to dragons and Vikings living together, it just wasn't enough for him.

He realized that what he was looking for was something he could truly call his own, something he could devote his entire soul to. He wanted to protect this new peace he had created with his own two hands and create a place that he and all his loved ones could truly call home. He had had a long discussion with Hairke about it: he wondered based on Hairke's strong reluctance to the idea if the chief had developed some kind of personal connection to him, and Alta was even more reluctant once she had heard about it. Eventually, they came around to the idea to some degree once they saw how badly Hiccup wanted to do this. A boy needed to broaden his own horizons, Hairke said, and so he helped Hiccup prepare his supplies for a long trip: Hiccup said he would be gone for about three years, but he swore he would return. That promise, everyone figured was most likely made to Alta specifically, who was about ready to tie Hiccup to her house to keep him from leaving.

He decided to take Alvis with him, wanting to share the world's majesty with his son as he promised he would, even if the child wouldn't remember it due to being too young. Hiccup remembered the big sendoff he and Toothless had been given by everyone, a huge gathering in the village's square, with dragons giving him fond nuzzles that Toothless had to drag him away by the cloth of his shirt from. Vikings gave him pats on the shoulder and slaps on the back, making him swear to tell them all about his travels once he returned. With their wishes of good luck and his promise to them that he would indeed return, they set off, gods only knew where they would end up.

Hiccup's travels over the three years took him to several exotic places, with all manner of different cultures and people, everything so new and different, right down to the food they ate and clothes they wore. There were lands with tall, spire like buildings with pink blossoms on the trees, places with buildings made of stone, including massive castles, places covered entirely in sand with buildings risen from the earth itself, and more. And the dragons, so many dragons. He had seen dragons with long whiskers and manes of fur who could manipulate the weather to bring down rain showers and create gusts to benefit the crops of farmers. There were dragons that could emit colorful streams of fire and appeared to dance as they flew through the sky. There were even dragons with humanoid anatomy, who could wield fire in their claws as well as with their breath, and carried a greater knowledge than anything Hiccup though possible. In several lands he met each of these creatures, studying them, interacting with them, learning from them, even befriending them. The people in each of these lands, once they had come to witness this, either were slightly fearful of him, or would come to treat him as a god and worship him, even fighting each other to ensure he got the respect he deserved. Hiccup would ensure people each and every time he was no god, and the worship died down to a more manageable level, which he was happy to hear due to not wanting to be the cause of any wars. Dragons from all over the world were willing to swear allegiance to him, follow him wherever he went, and it was always enough to make quite the impression.

Hiccup had experienced several adventures in the course of his travels – he conquered another dragon comparable to the Red Death and freed an entire country from its tyranny, traveling through a whole continent and seeing multiple towns and cities along the way, and joining the Royal Guard of a kingdom and partaking in missions to defend its borders. He lived in a village where homes were built in the trees, found libraries filled with numerous records of worldly knowledge, and perhaps most importantly, opened so many people's eyes to the wonders of dragons. He in turn had learned everything from combat to philosophy, to blacksmithing to advanced academics and leadership tactics. Each place had some new take on a subject, and considering it from every point of view, opening his eyes to the limitless possibilities on drove Hiccup ever further. It was all amazing in Hiccup's view, almost enough to keep him and his companions moving forward to the end of the world itself, seeing all there was to see. What he wouldn't give to be able to explore until the day he drew his final breath.

Still, he had a life waiting for him in Draak, and he knew he couldn't turn his back on it: in fact, he had all sorts of improvements waiting to be done for it. His time in these foreign lands had inspired various new ideas for the village's renovation and for weapons for himself, and he couldn't wait to try them out. Nor could he wait to show everyone his new skills.

All his teachers were nothing short of astounded at the sheer level of determination and willpower he had shown in his days of training. His fierce dedication to his goal had allowed him to master fighting techniques, levels of arithmetic and sciences, and forging styles that others took weeks to learn in days, advancing quicker than most of his peers. He had probably attributed it to the limited amount of time he gave himself, but others pointed towards the fact that he was pushing himself far beyond his limits. In those days he would train and grow, gaining proficiency and skill, up to the point where his body and mind threatened to break. Toothless and Alvis were both concerned, but at the same time were brimming with pride every time they saw him; Toothless might have been more worried and frustrated if not for the fact that Hiccup still found time to fly with him.

Eventually, they had returned to Draak, to the surprise of everyone when they had seen him with another whole army of dragons from across the world. It was a warm reunion, and Hiccup was happy to see that everything had somehow managed to hold together. The dragons had kept their behavior together and several new pairs of dragons had been made, especially among the younger generation. Everyone was utterly fascinated by all the treasures he had brought from the distant lands, and were enthralled by the stories of where he had been and what he had seen. It was a true relief for the several worlds he had seen and been a part of to come together so easily, the dragons from the distant lands getting along well with the dragons of his homeland. Now he could set into motion all that he had planned for the future, and it turned out to be a bright future indeed.

* * *

><p>His former title of 'Hiccup the Useless' had been all but forgotten, now he was known to the people of Draak as 'Hiccup the Dragon Whisperer.' The man who could call out and thousands of dragons would heed him and charge into battle on his command, who could bend dragons to his will with a single outstretched hand. Twenty years old now and nowhere to go but up, Hiccup had risen from what he once was and stood to achieve true greatness, more so than any before him. As one with the dragons, one with his no longer crazy, mixed up feelings, Hiccup felt alive for the first time, and finally happy.<p>

Hiccup had to wonder, looking back at it all, how it was all possible for the incompetent little hiccup he used to be. Runts like him never made it far in life before they ended up biting the dust or getting bitten and chomped up by a dragon. Obviously no one had any faith in him from the beginning, but now Berk and all the pain it brought him was but a distant memory from another life.

Now Hiccup had a beautiful wife in Alta, married to her for the last two years and still so very much in love with each other. Ever since that night they first kissed, Hiccup had never felt so empowered or energetic – he guessed that was a typical man thing, feeling like you could touch the sky or walk on water once you got kissed. She was his number one supporter when he had first started up the Dragon Academy, and writing the Book of Dragons 2, telling all about dragon training secrets and the best way to befriend and raise each species. The book became their primary teaching tool for most of their classes, and new additions were constantly being added based on their lessons. When Hiccup came back from his long trip, admittedly she was pretty sore at him, refusing to talk to him for weeks, no matter how much he pleaded and pestered her. Girls really didn't like it when a guy hung them out to dry, another hard lesson about relationships he had to learn. Still he couldn't help but notice her staring at him from time to time, unable to resist how jaw-droppingly attractive he had become. It was when several other girls their age started making moves of their own that she made her own move, dragging him out into the woods again. It was an awkward and uncomfortable conversation, filled with shouting, but they eventually forgave each other, and picked up the pieces from there.

She understood why he did it and why he felt he had to do it, no matter how much it hurt her to see him go, but she came to realize it didn't matter anymore now that he was back. They had managed to fall in love with each other all over again, although they had to keep their relationship a secret, Hiccup being unsure how anyone would react. It was going fine until Ruoy had somehow managed to find out about it, probably by spying, Hiccup figured, and started spreading rumors and gossip, which passed along to Hairke eventually.

Hiccup thought he was as good as dead right then and there, but managed to breathe again when Hairke more or less approved of their relationship, at least, once they had an open discussion about it. From then on, people started to respect the young couple, and came to celebrate the day when they had gotten married; even Hairke joined in, as uncomfortable as he was. But that was just his fatherly concern – no dad wants to let their little girl go; Hiccup saw those kinds of feelings during several of the weddings he was invited to. Things were going great for the young couple since, and had only gotten even better the moment Hiccup discovered Alta was pregnant with their first biological child. He couldn't wait for the day their child was born, which was sure to be any day now.

Of course, even the promise of a new child could never make Hiccup forget about his first, Alvis, who had grown up to be quite the energetic young boy. He loved playing around with all the dragons and kids his age, the hostility and hate of his elders an unknown concept for him. Having traveled with his father and Toothless throughout the world and seeing Hiccup grow had turned out to be a very positive experience for him, developing the intelligence his adoptive father had. Then, coming back to see what Hiccup had accomplished before they had departed while he was still a baby and hearing of his struggles and sacrifices left him seeing Hiccup in a new way. Alvis had always loved his father, but now he outright idolized him – Hiccup was his greatest hero, and it always made Hiccup's heart soar when he heard his child say he wanted to be just like him when he grew up. Hiccup had made sure to give him all the attention and affection his father had failed to give him, and with his sixth birthday now coming up, he had to find some way to top the other five.

And if that wasn't enough for the young man, Hiccup now had many friends among Draak, namely the other teens that came to his rescue six years ago at the nest. Now they all had dragons of their own, and he loved having them as part of his classes at the academy. There were plenty of other kids who he got to be friends with as well, and of course all the dragons simply adored him. They were all loyal to their riders, of course, but every dragon on the island followed and obeyed him and Toothless without question or doubt. To the dragons, they were known as the Saviors, as Hiccup found out from the English dragons, their twin alphas and protectors, and a debt of gratitude from a dragon was a very serious thing indeed.

Everything was going great, up until one day: Hairke had announced that he was planning to retire from his position as chief, and he had already chosen a successor. Him.

It seemed Hiccup was going to be the chief of a tribe after all, though he had to admit, it came as a massive shock to him at first. From shock of course, came denial, as those old cold feet struck again; Hiccup didn't think he was chief material, against everyone else's opinion. By now, practically everyone in the village thought he would make the perfect chief: regardless of his reservations he had really proven himself with everything from his training dragons to training himself, not to mention everything he had done to fix up the village. In fact, Ruoy was really the only one who complained about it, since everyone had been talking about him being chief before Hiccup even arrived, and he certainly wasn't blind to having been losing favor ever since. He had been the number one prodigy, and he wasn't ready to lose it all to some outsider, even if he was a big time hero/celebrity, but that was to be expected, although he did let it go eventually once he had gotten to bonding with his own dragon. Even with everyone and everything now on his side, Hiccup still had reservations about the whole thing; being chief didn't matter to him, in fact he hardly saw himself as a leader, having meetings, solving daily problems, it just didn't seem right. All he really needed was his family, his wife, son, and Toothless – with them he could conquer anything.

"So, why does this seem so impossible?" Hiccup asked his own thoughts.

The only answer came in the form of Toothless, who came up to his side and nuzzle his arm. His Night Fury had undergone some growth of his own over the years: even kneeling on all fours he could reach up to Hiccup's chest. His body had gotten longer, larger, and more developed, his muscles more powerful and more prominent spines growing along the backs of his legs and his head and tail. His wingspan had gotten much greater, and his tailfin could cover a small child like Alvis completely with just one fin. Spending so much time with Hiccup had also enlightened him to more human mannerisms, shown in how he suddenly gave a light, playful 'punch' with his clenched claws.

'_I didn't think stuff like this would faze you, compared to everything else you've gotten through._' He said in a rumble.

Hiccup sighed and plopped himself down on the ground, laying his head down on the grass. "I guess I'm just… bummed out we didn't have more time for stuff like… this." What he could define as 'this,' if he could put it all into words, was everything: flying, exploring, childhood things. He had to admit, the sadness and isolation he felt while he was on Berk didn't give him much of one. He felt like his life had actually begun on that day he came back to Draak beaten from the battle with the Red Death. And he had so little time to figure things out ever since.

"Toothless, just who am I?" He had to wonder. He wasn't the cold stone of a man his father was, and he never knew his mother since no one ever told him about her. In fact, any kind of mention of her left people in a bad mood and more willing to avoid him than usual. All he wanted was answers.

'_You're Hiccup, the Dragon Whisperer, Savior of Dragons, leader of men, and my best friend.'_ Toothless warbled, laying his large head down on Hiccup's chest, just looking at him with those adoring eyes.

Hiccup just looked back at him and rubbed his head absentmindedly. "You really think I'm ready for this, bud?"

'_I know you are.' _Toothless' look spoke for him, and right out of the blue, he started showering him in a barrage of slobbery dragon licks, a small one on the chin before the onslaught began. Hiccup groaned in frustration and rolled out of the Night Fury's grip, landing on his feet and shaking off the drool.

"You KNOW that doesn't wash out!" He complained, with Toothless giving a throaty dragon laugh in response. He swatted the dragon spit right onto Toothless' face before climbing back in the saddle with Toothless cleaning himself and licking his paw again.

"All right then," he said with a sigh, "if it's a one-legged dragon rider they want for a chief, it's a one legged dragon rider they'll get." Toothless's eyes sparkled and he let out an excited bark. His best friend Hiccup, chief of a human tribe; who would have thought? He spread his wings wide and they took off again, making their way back to the village on Draak.

As Hiccup and Toothless were flying across the ocean to get back home, he briefly wondered how Berk was doing. He tried not to think about it much, mostly because remembering such bitter times there just gave him a headache. They all figured he would have reached the pinnacle of his potential once his title changed to 'Useful.' Sure he got recognition there for a little while, but that was only when they figured he was finally starting to be like them; it sickened him to know how they frowned on individualism. If someone wasn't a bloodthirsty killer like them, they might as well have been an insect.

"They probably threw a party when I left," Hiccup said out-loud, bitterly, tightening his grip on the saddle bar. "I bet they were all so glad to have me out of the picture. Especially Dad."

Toothless nodded his head in agitation, snarling as he could just picture all the ways they'd hurt his Hiccup. _'I can't believe how they'd treated you. From everything you told me, I'm surprised you didn't ditch those jerks a long time ago.'_

Hiccup scoffed in agreement. "If they could only see me now, a dragon rider, married to a great woman, with a son, a new baby on the way, and soon-to-be chief of a major tribe. Heh, I'd love to show them." He shook his head and chuckled softly. "I'd love to show them how a hiccup ended up becoming the greatest Viking alive."

He looked from their general direction down to his companion and gave him a pet on the head. "And you too, Toothless. If only they could see you, the only know living Night Fury. Oh, the looks on their faces, I can just picture them."

'_Hey, come on, you've got more important things to think about.' _Toothless said as they reached the shores of Draak, flying all the way to the village. To a newcomer, they would not believe what they'd be seeing.

Though raids never hit Draak as often as they did on Berk, they still hit hard, and that meant Vikings had to rebuild their homes here like they did anywhere else. Of course, that also meant that Vikings were good at rebuilding their homes fast, really, it was like second nature to them. It was a good thing, too, otherwise all the upgrades around the village would not have been possible to make in such a short time, and with Vikings and dragons now working together, things got done at record-breaking speed, near triple the work done in half the time. And now, with the wars a thing of the past, many homes had undergone major remodels, with some being two or three stories high, and with greater attention to detail and sturdiness. There were even new systems of pumping warm water into the homes to keep them warm during cold winter nights. But there was still much more to do, at least as far as Hiccup was concerned. Every invention, every addition and improvement was his idea, and really played a massive factor into Hairke's decision to make him chief. After all, with all these upgrades, his job as chief had never been easier, every problem being solved for him; it only proved how fit, how destined to lead Hiccup truly was.

Houses were lined with perches that had been updated from the ones that were originally built six years ago: some were attached to the sides while others lined up along pairs of houses. They were simple bars protruding out and over roofs or attached to the very top, or whole square landing areas. Perches could also be found on the sides of the Viking totem poles that lied near the edge of the island, on three levels for various vantage points. The perches on the houses all had buckets of water attached to them, ready to turn down in case of errant fire blasts; these were part of a system of aqueducts designed specifically for fire prevention.

The buckets all over the island were connected to several reservoirs to constantly refill them with water, not the least providing of which was the large massive one that stood near the village plaza. The rainwater that the Japanese dragons provided for watering crops always helped in keeping these reservoirs full at all times, and they also served as a good source of drinking water. The house built on the side of the rock where the main reservoir was built was where some of this water was channeled to serve drinking needs thanks to an indoor water wheel with buckets that could produce gallons of drinking water in half a day.

Also standing in the plaza and in other places were massive feeding stations for the dragons; while some were simply large barrels with open bottoms for the fish to pile out on and others had dispensers shaped like Viking mouths, the main one in the main square was the most impressive. It was a massive bowl of fish connected with three smaller bowls of water with a main gear in the center and connecting bars; what made this one so impressive was that it could be dragon operated. By pressing their feet against a lever, the water poured out via dragon shaped tubes into small bowls near the bottom that they could drink from, and cranking the lever on the gear produced fish in the bottommost bowl to eat.

A personal favorite was the grooming stations, though: near the edge of the plaza were several stations filled with small perches, rotating bars with numerous brushes, spiked rollers, and canopy-styled holes filled with coals that were constantly heated with fire and billows built inside. Dragons could use the brushes or have their riders scratch them at the Viking operated stations to wash and groom them, they could use the rollers to shed off itchy dead scales, and finally relax in the hot coals while being gently shaded. The coals were an excellent way to relax and ease muscle tension, which was all but given considering how heavy their riders were; there were even tracks along one particular dual coal pit which could be refilled with new coals again and again. Hiccup remembered how positive the reaction to the grooming stations were; he had gotten nuzzled and licked so much from so many dragons it's a wonder he wasn't crushed and drowned in a pool of slobber.

Some of the more notable changes could be found in the numerous farmhouses around the village, some large enough to house ten dragons at one time. There were numerous levels and openings on each side, and pulleys were there to bring in new hay for the nests inside. The children loved the farmhouses too: their construction was so expansive, with their numerous levels and passages they were always lots of fun to play in. The numerous tunnels that had been constructed by the Whispering Deaths and other Boulder class dragons for shelter had been converted into underground stables and enclosures sprawled out all over the caverns with plenty of openings made just so they could get out and spread their wings. There were all kinds of pocketed spaces for dragons of every type and temperament, and there were also saddle racks for Vikings to place saddles on. This space was meant for new dragon arrivals or dragons that had yet to find riders: they could rest in cozy spaces until a suitable rider was found for them, and the saddle racks all over made sure that new pairs were always ready to go. Built along the sides of the island along the cliffs were the large dragon hangars for the majority of the Draak dragons – the main one was built similarly to a large-scale version of a normal triangle-shaped Viking home. It had a large runway for taking off, side exits for Vikings coming and going, automated storm doors, and a water delivery system for cleaning purposes. Other types of hangars looked more like birdhouses with numerous levels and doors, built to pacify the more fussy dragons.

A lot of things around the new Draak were automated now powered by the many windmills and waterwheels built around the island, atop and alongside the rocks surrounding them to the sides of houses and even the docks. One windmill was even built over a small house filled with all kinds of crazy machines, operating pulleys that sent sacks of supplies down to the village. The windmills themselves had a unique design, shaped like the wings of dragons, and they were powered by the very same source. It was truly ingenious of Hiccup to take the natural occurrence of dragons flying around daily and the waves hitting the island and turn that into a new power source. Not the least of which that was powered by these windmills and waterwheels was the blacksmith's shop turned Dragon Armory. This was pretty much the nerve center of the place, designing everything from custom made saddles to fit each rider and dragons' needs and preferences to making fire-proof riding gear to counteract some of the more hazardous abilities. Thanks to the shop's large size, there was all sorts of room for the mechanisms and operating systems built in to move tools and supplies automatically. This made the ever-increasing demand of dragon-riding gear all the easier to fulfill. The shop was actually split into two halves: where the front served as the armory, the back served as a sort of dragon hospital. Using the same systems, this side was dedicated to curing every kind of dragon malady from sprained wings to even missing limbs, designing prosthetics and wing slings for them and even their riders, of course. They also helped to fix dragon teeth, which was more of an everyday thing due to all the stuff that accidentally ended up in a dragon's mouth.

Constructed on the side of the island near the Academy were the bleachers, large rows of wooden seats with colorful banners of dragons supported by pillars that extended down to the shallow ocean waters below. There were seats on two sides, while in the center was a large fence with a seat in the center reserved for the chief. Bleachers, to some, might seem like an odd addition, but it was perfectly necessary for villagers to watch the island's new favorite sport: dragon racing.

Because the wars had long since ended, the Vikings and dragons both found themselves with large amounts of excess energy and tension that they didn't know what to do with. And mere construction projects weren't exactly enough to satisfy this need. Somehow, Hiccup had gotten the idea for the game while riding Toothless to chase a sheep that somehow found itself flung around everywhere. The game was simple: competitors would catch sheep ejected from a catapult and complete a lap around the island before dropping it into their basket near the bleachers. A sheep could be stolen by the rider using a hammer to shoot a leather, wool-stuffed ball at the dragon causing them to drop the sheep, or by snatching them out of the opponent riders' hands outright although this tactic was entirely optional by the players. Each sheep in a pair's basket counted as one point, and the first to ten points would be declared the victor. At some point they would launch out a special black sheep, which served as a major game changer: the black sheep counted as ten points instantly, so whoever managed to bag it received an instant win. The competitive drive shared by both species usually made for some fierce and amazing games, even if the sentiment wasn't shared by the sheep that were painted on and used for the games. It started out as simply a way to blow off steam before eventually evolving into a full-scale tournament that raged in full every week for a solid two months with qualifying and preliminary races, available in both singles and team games, with a new one starting up just as soon as the last one was done. There were never any shortage of players willing to sign up and compete: people of every age came, including his friends; Hiccup was only sorry he couldn't be one of them.

Besides becoming the new chief and being the best, most experienced dragon rider on the island, it was unanimously agreed that the supersonic speed the Night Fury was known to possess gave Hiccup and Toothless an unfair advantage. Other dragons, despite their training and their diets of chicken, which was discovered to help a dragon's speed due to the supplements it carried, could never keep up, especially when Toothless was eating just as much chicken as them. It wasn't as though Hiccup really minded all that much: he was never really a big fan of competition, anyway. However, to satisfy Toothless' need for flight and to give them a chance to participate in the game they created, Hiccup came up with the idea to perform exhibition flights before each official game. They would always give quite the show, somehow managing to always do better than the last, and sometimes they even brought other dragons into the act. Of course, keeping in mind some of the more brave and competitive Vikings, Hiccup and Toothless were still open to challenge to a one-on-one dragon race at any time. They managed to get plenty of challengers once this was established, and naturally they had yet to lose a single match.

Toothless landed at the square to a bunch of hearty cheers for the new chief-to-be; Hiccup tucked his helmet under his arm and, after getting past the throngs of congratulatory words and barks from the dragons, headed through the rows of houses with Toothless by his side. Trained dragons roamed freely, sitting on their perches on the rooftops and some of the smaller dragons were playfully chasing after some of the younger children. Terrible Terrors were flying everywhere: another brilliant idea of Hiccup's was to employ the Terrors as a sort of carrier service for mail. A message would be attached to their leg and after being provided a smell sample, would fly off to the intended person; a small fish per Terror was a small fee to pay for this. The delivery service helped immensely while construction of the new additions was still going on, and even now when it was still going with repairs and such.

Passing through the streets, he got a lot of 'Hi Hiccup's and shy waves from the younger women; once he turned to look at them, they shied away giggling, their faces blood-red. Girls all over the island had been falling for his roguish good looks and couldn't stop thinking about how hot he was, even if that manner of thinking wasn't very Viking-like. Hiccup couldn't even count the number of marriage proposals he had received before deciding to tie the knot with the chief's daughter. He was sure those girls were nice people, but he would always have his eyes set on that one woman, so he just politely waved back. The girls just giggled more and some even fell to their knees at how he had noticed them. Turning one more curve he came to a new house with a personal stable right next to it, where standing on the porch, waiting for him with a small five, almost six, year-old standing next to her was the beautiful woman in question.

Alta and Alvis.

Alta had grown into quite the young woman, her long black hair even longer and her breasts larger; she wore a long overcoat made from wolf skin wrapped around and secured by a leather belt around her waist like a corset. She stood just a few inches shorter than Hiccup thanks to his growth spurt finally kicking in. Alvis on the other hand was like a miniature Hiccup, sporting the same freckled face, the same styled green tunic and long brown pants and leather boots he did when he was fifteen. The only differences were the short sleeves on his tunic and his hair being more of a normal shade of brown, but those green eyes of his, so happy and full of life, were a near perfect reflection of his father's. Alta wrapped her arms around Hiccup's neck and kissed him like she usually did every day, while Alvis quietly gripped his fathers' leg, almost knocking Hiccup over. As he was greeted by his son and wife, Hiccup felt like the luckiest man alive.

"Well, well, if it isn't my favorite hero. I'm surprised to see you hanging around the house these days." Alta said playfully.

"Not my fault there aren't enough hours to go around. At least I got to squeeze some time in." Hiccup's schedule these days was packed, between flights with Toothless, training to keep his fighting skills sharp, getting chiefing lessons from Hairke, working in the forge making saddles, and overseeing new projects for the village, it was a wonder he didn't keel over.

"Daddy, daddy!" Alvis hopped on his leg, the little bundle of energy he was.

Hiccup looked down with a smile as wide as a river and picked his little son up by his sides, holding him in the air. "Hey, how's my favorite boy?"

"Great, daddy!" He giggled. "I've been playing with Bois and Torch all day!" At that point, a large dragon similar to a Monstrous Nightmare with a silver head and curved horns and red-orange wings. This was a new breed of dragon known as a Typhoomerang for the way it could create a cyclone of fire and return to its original point. Hiccup had found Torch when he was a baby not long after he returned from his journey and had took it home to live with him, much to Toothless's chagrin. The two dragons had formed a bitter rivalry with each other for Hiccup's affections, one that did not improve with time. Still, Hiccup had always chosen Toothless as his main riding dragon, and the two could at least respect each other based on how much they cared about him. Most found it impressive that Hiccup had more than one dragon, especially two rare breeds like them. Torch laid his head down along with Bois who had followed the Typhoomerang out and both started nuzzling the little boy, giving him little licks.

"Well, glad to see you two have been making my boy's day." Hiccup said to the two dragons, and Torch began to nuzzle him, keeping an eye open slightly to gauge Toothless's reaction. The Night Fury snarling in jealousy was a welcome sight to him.

"All right, boys, enough of that." Alta split the dragons apart. "It's time for dinner."

Hiccup put down Alvis, who walked through the door of the house with Toothless right behind. Torch and Bois, since they were too big to get through the door, went around and stuck their heads through the windows around the hall. Hiccup watch all the members of his family go in before turning back around to see Alta, grabbing her waist and kissing her on the lips.

"We've got one heck of a family, don't we?" Hiccup said before placing a hand on Alta's belly. "And it's soon to be one greater."

"I'm looking forward to that." Alta said, giving him another peck on the cheek.

Hiccup smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leading her in. Alta was touched by how her husband was doting on her all the time now since she was expected to deliver any day now. As they went in to enjoy a nice, quiet evening at home, Hiccup couldn't help but feel proud of himself at the feeling of it all.

What could be better than this, he thought.

* * *

><p><strong>I'd like to give out props for the inspiration for this chapter first and foremost. A shout-out to "Prodigal Son" and "The Viking Samurai" for their takes on Hiccup's otherworldly adventures.<strong>

**I noticed that some were asking if Hiccup could travel like he originally intended to, and I honestly had plans for that all along. I always thought of Hiccup going out to explore the world, learn new things and become this sort of experienced, wise, capable leader-type. For the places Hiccup went to in this chapter, I mostly thought of countries that had strong ties to dragons. Places like China, Japan, and Medieval England – England's dragons, I thought of Fire Emblem.**

**You'll notice by now Draak's undergone a lot of changes. I figured Hiccup was behind a great deal of the changes that happened to Berk by the time of the second movie (which I already bought, great film, by the way). But now, all those changes go to Draak. And thank you to the 'Art of Httyd2' book for helping me write it all out.**

**Anyway, as always, review, favorite, follow!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Alright, you've now seen how things are going for Hiccup and the others on Draak, time for a checkup on Berk after the six year time skip. This was originally one chapter, mixed in with the previous, but I split it in two due to length. Enjoy, well, as much as you can. Not too cheery in terms of recapping, here**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>As wonderful as things were for Hiccup on Draak, that's how terrible things were going for Stoick and everyone else on Berk. Some actually had the hindsight to wonder if they had deserved this.<p>

The once proud village of the Hairy Hooligans that stood tall against any kind of adversity now stood in utter ruin; the place was but a mere shell of what it once was. The houses had more holes in them than cheese, some were even outlined by the vicious scorch marks of dragons. Though, that description only applied to the handful of houses that were still standing, while the majority laid in heaps of broken, splintered, burnt wood and hay on the ground. The unfortunate families who those houses once belonged to had been forced to seek shelter from either family or neighbors, in the Great Hall, or in the Chief's house on the hill. Stoick didn't mind it, in fact he liked the company since his house had been painfully quiet ever since he had driven his son away. Even the forge, the Great Hall, and the chief's house themselves were heavily damaged, and they didn't provide as much shelter as was needed for the heavy snowstorms that came around. They had tried to get the holes patched up as best they could. But they had been forced to expend so much wood the forest that once lied behind the village was nearly gone, and somehow leaks still managed to get through. This combined with the utter devastation of their food stores left people sick and starving, and their numbers were slowly growing, while their morale was quickly shrinking.

There was no question in anyone's mind that the last six years had been all but hel for them, and they always found themselves questioning how it got so bad so fast. The answer always came, though, in the form of a certain young man who nowadays had assumed Hiccup's role as the new pariah of the village: Snotlout.

It was three years ago today that Snotlout had assumed the role of chief from his uncle Stoick, since Stoick was so broken from the loss of his son he was unable to perform his chiefly duties, remaining in his damaged house the whole time. Outside of meals, he would just sit in the large chair in his house and stoke the fires to keep it as warm as possible before going to bed. The people had the utmost sympathy for him; the last time he had suffered this greatly was 20 years ago when his wife Valka had been taken away and eaten by the dragons. Snotlout though, wasn't too interested in his predecessor's emotional health, he had obtained the rite that he figured was always meant to be and was meant to be his should anything happen to Hiccup. Deep down, Snotlout had always wanted that to happen, and his constant tormenting of Hiccup had reflected the jealousy he felt that his pathetic cousin was to be the new chief. Everyone figured that Snotlout would be the better option when given the choice between the two, but when it had actually come to that, they finally saw the immense lapse in judgment they had made.

Nobody believed it to be possible, but ever since Snotlout became the chief, his ego had actually gotten bigger and he became more and more self-absorbed. Now he expected people to do ridiculous things like bow in his presence and kiss the dirt he walked on. He became more worried about whether he had some blemish on his face than he did the actual good of the village and whined like a sorry little baby whenever he didn't get what he wanted. Even when chaos was erupting all over and the whole of their society was collapsing in on itself, he just sat there in his seat being waited on hand and foot.

And then of course came the greatest catastrophe ever to befall the Hairy Hooligans in their tribe's entire history: his marriage problems. Snotlout, once he hit the age of 17, had proposed to Astrid; being the pompous showboat he was, he figured there was no way she could refuse his hand in marriage. Imagine his surprise when she spat in his face and refused outright.

But Snotlout was nothing if not persistent, ever since he was a child, though anyone else could easily call it obnoxious. Either way, he asked again, and she said no.

He asked again, and she said no again.

And he asked once more, and she said no once more.

Astrid had always been repulsed by Snotlout, regardless of how highly anyone else saw him. The truth is, she had been thinking hard all those few years, ever since that day she had been confronted with the harsh reality of her actions. Somewhere along the lines of feeling horrible guilt, she had started to admire some of the smaller qualities of Hiccup, from his inventiveness to his stick-to-it attitude. From there she started to think he was a bit cute, and she did always like how gracious Hiccup was in the face of his constant failures. And at some point, she realized she had fallen in love with him, insisting that her heart belonged to Hiccup and Hiccup alone. She would lie awake several nights with thoughts of the boy in her head, imagining him as the man he might have become if they were not cruel enough to drive him away. How handsome he would be, how much he might have been capable of, and what they might have done together.

When Snotlout asked for the millionth time, this time even offering a marriage contract with all the wealth the Jorgenson clan had to offer as extra insurance, he was sure he had her. The damaged reputation of her family name caused by the incident with her uncle, 'Fearless' Finn Hofferson, and the Flightmare, an eerie dragon that appeared only during Arvindale's Fire, could pressure her parents into forcing her to accept. As impossible as it seemed that she could resist such perfection, he had the gall to think he could buy her affections.

Luckily for her, Astrid found the marriage contract and ripped it to pieces long before her parents ever saw it; she marched up to his front door and beat the living crud out of him, and swore she would sooner kiss a dragon than marry him, and again, she refused. She couldn't care less about the blemish on her family name brought forth by her uncle's infamous failure or the wealth and status that would come with uniting with the chief's family – she wanted to marry for love, and the only one she loved, well, she didn't even know if he was alive or not.

And by then he was at his breaking point. Patience wasn't a virtue among Vikings, after all.

He figured he had to earn her attention first, though why just his existence or his appearance alone wasn't admiration-worthy to her he would never know. He had grabbed one of the dragons they still kept locked up in the Kill Ring and dragged it into the village to beat it to death so Astrid could see how strong he was. Naturally, there was no way he could control the dragon, and before he could even get it to the village center it ended up tearing most of the houses to pieces and swiping a large amount of food before escaping. This first attempt was with the Nadder, and he'd tried again with the Zippleback, then the Gronkle, and even with the Terror, and each try ended up with the same result. Numerous Vikings stuck in the healer's hut with grievous wounds and burns, their food and supplies severely lowered, and him flat on his face with a thousand angry glares pointed in his direction.

About a year ago, by a unanimous vote from the village and the council of elders, Snotlout was removed from the position as chief, which had been a joyous day for the people despite the boatload of complaining that Snotlout had done that topped any amount he had done before. Stoick was put back in the position, although he was still a broken man, and so Gobber and the elders had to take care of things in his place and make decisions for him. The man could hardly think anymore, instead just sitting quietly during meetings and the like.

By the time Stoick had finally decided to get it together and suck it up for the good of the people, he was faced with a dilemma that he had no conceivable solution for. Berk was on its last legs, and it wasn't long before it and its people would be little more than a memory.

No one blamed Astrid for all of this, though; no one in their right mind would marry Snotlout. People had by now lost every shred of respect they ever had for the idiot, and were compelled to throw fish, eels and vegetables that had long since rotted at him every time he passed by. They had always figured that at some point he was going to do something stupid once he got to be chief, it's just they never expected it would end in Berk's utter annihilation. If anything it served as a hard lesson that a true leader wasn't determined by the size of his muscles or how much he had accomplished, but by where he intended to guide his people.

In fact, as Stoick and the people of Berk looked back, on the day Snotlout became chief, there really wasn't much applause at all for what was supposed to be a happy occasion at the time. On that day, all anyone could think about was Hiccup. Every word of spite they had ever said to him, every form of rejection they had presented to him, and every moment of isolation he suffered as a result.

If they had bothered to give him the luxury of kindness that he, in all his rights as a human being deserved, perhaps he would still be with them. Perhaps if they let him, he would eventually show some kind of proof that he was fit to take his father's place as Berk's leader. Nobody liked the idea of such a scrawny boy being chief, but he sure as heck could have done a better job leading a tribe than Snotlout; Hiccup was more of an intellectual than a brawler, he would at least know what he was doing or have some kind of plan, no matter how ill-conceived it might have been at the start.

In fact, when Gobber had gone to clean out Hiccup's old room in the forge where he worked on his things, they had found all sorts of intricate designs for everything from home improvements to manufacturing facilities to construction devices and village defenses. Some he had recognized as improved versions of those already built by his hand, and served a major part in Berk's protection, while others had yet to be made, and in the old smith's eyes they were nothing short of ingenious. Hiccup had left all sorts of notes as to how they were supposed to operate, breaking down every mechanism and giving the exact specifics of the parts needed and strategic locations to place the works at and how to make the most of each one. A fully functional machine or building made to apply proper control and ease life on Berk in some aspect of every kind could be found on one of the many papers littered throughout the room, with every possible calculation of expenses, time, and results made to full extent, and to think it all came from the mind of one fourteen-year old boy.

For someone that young to be able to think and produce such creations that could have saved so much time and just as many lives was absolutely astonishing, all the villagers had to agree. Sadly, even Gobber, as smart as he was and how skillfully he could craft a weapon, could not even begin to piece together the complicated blueprints with all their dimensions, footnotes, and equations that Hiccup had made. Every attempt to try was left with a splitting headache and a pile of rubble that could barely even pass for the work in the drawing. Such tragically wasted potential, they all thought, to lose the chance to build the tools and devices Hiccup had left for them that would easily solve so many of their everyday dilemmas and advance their village forward to a level of progress unseen by any in the archipelago. Such ideas would just as easily made them untouchable to the dragons, and they had so foolishly driven out the only one who could properly construct them.

They all wondered where Hiccup was now – if he was lucky he would have made it on to some distant land where he was living happily, if he was lucky. But most figured that was not the case. He was so small and helpless when he left, unable to use any weapon other than a flimsy dagger, everyone figured he had probably died of starvation out in the wilderness or went the path of his mother and got killed and eaten by dragons long ago. Every time he so much as set foot outside the house it spelled danger for him and usually someone else: there was little chance he was still alive by this point.

In uncontrollable anger at the possibility that the remainder of his family had been stolen by the dragons, Stoick redoubled his efforts to find the nest, pouring every second of his time into his hunt. The rest of the world seemed to fade away as he devoted himself to his vengeance, one that even Gobber and Gothi had no hope of bringing him out of. It wasn't until Astrid had proposed the brilliant idea to use one of the dragons they had captured in the raids – a Terrible Terror – to guide them to the nest, that he could finally relax somewhat. A Terror would be easy to manage and it would no doubt know where the nest was like any other dragon.

The idea seemed so simple, everyone wondered why they hadn't thought of it years ago; they took the Terror, bound it in painful, heavy chains and belts, and secured it to the mast of a ship packed with several Vikings all armed to the teeth. Stoick readied himself for war, taking small solace in the fact that he would earn revenge for his wife and son…

… Only to find that the entire voyage was in vain. The Terror had managed to guide them to the nest with some confused difficulty, as if searching for something that was no longer there. When they had arrived, they were shocked to find the island in complete disarray, a large chasm in the main face of an inactive volcano of sorts. It seemed that the nest had been all but abandoned, as there were no dragons to be found anywhere. But what really confused people was the aged burning scent that filled the air, and what appeared to be ashes spilled on the rocks littered all over the area. They had even found remnants of what appeared to be the bones of something massive – they could only assume it was some kind of terrible dragon the likes of which Berk had never seen. Something had burned and perished here, and it wasn't until they saw a pile of dried blood on one of the rocks was the worst assumed.

It was really a bittersweet moment for the Hooligans to find that their longtime enemies had seemingly left of their own accord. There was some happiness, seeing as the beasts had finally gained the common sense to realize they were outmatched and flew away to some remote corner of the world, hopefully never to be seen again. The Hooligans made up excuses like this all they could to bolster themselves and at the same time stoking the fires of their egos even more. But really, for them, and for Stoick most of all, everything that came after felt empty.

Now there were no more dragons, just like there was no more Hiccup: they really did seem to go hand in hand. Both caused trouble no matter where they were, but that still provided a sense of normalcy for them, being no strangers to hard times. One of their oldest and most sacred traditions was gone now – that was really the bottom line, and everything that came after seemed so empty now.

Stoick himself just seemed to feel numb at the whole thing, not bothering with petty jokes or the like. With his family gone, revenge was all he had to keep himself going. Now, though, there was nothing to take revenge on, nothing to do with that anger he built up except to let it melt away drudgingly slowly. What was he supposed to do? What was his reason for living now?

He tried to find that answer in some way when he had gone on hunts for his son several times in the past since that day six years ago, at least once every month, in the hopes of finding his son and bringing him home, but always came home empty handed, with not even so much as a scrap of tunic. He wanted to believe so desperately that the blood he found in that spot was some kind of trick, and had even gone into a full state of denial. The Hooligans truly began to fear for their chief's mental well-being, and it wasn't until three years ago after a full, harsh conversation between him and Gobber that Stoick had to swallow it down and accept it.

Hiccup was dead.

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><p>Days after that, they had held a funeral for Hiccup; since there was no body tradition dictated that they must use a valued possession. Stoick decided to offer the dented Viking helmet he had given to Hiccup that they had found in the cove, though it was with no shortage of tears that he did. It was like burying both Hiccup and Valka together at once, for the second time. The helmet was all he had left to remember them, all he had to cling onto in those days of pain and grief. And cling onto it he did, in those endless nights when the memories he had of them both comforted and haunted him all at once. But Hiccup, at the very least, should have been honored as a Viking at least in death if not in life, the Vikings argued, and so used the helmet in a traditional pyre boat.<p>

It was around the start of their winter season, on perhaps the coldest, gloomiest day Berk had ever seen, with clouds as dark and grey as they had ever been. The Hooligans had to wonder if it was the Gods' way of offering condolences or shedding sorrow of their own for the loss of such a small child. Snow had just begun to touch the ground, as pale and white was how they imagined Hiccup's corpse to be, making the rest of the world seem darker by comparison.

A biting, chilling wind blew that brought goose bumps to the villagers' exposed skin and left the young ones shivering in their boots. The faces of young and old were painted with sorrow, eyes as dull as the skies above, as Gobber offered his speech, refined for Hiccup personally while a tiny boat sailed quietly away upon the silent waters. The archers lit the coal of their arrowheads and drew their arrows back, waiting in somber silence.

"May the Valkyries offer gentle hands to guide you to Odin's great kingdom. May they sing your name with love and tenderness, so that we might hear it carried upon Valhalla's light from above, and know that you've come home to caring arms. Here we now stand, to honor a life taken before it had even begun: That of a friend. An heir. A son. A Viking."

Hiccup had always been unnerved by the traditional version of the sermon, Stoick remembered, that spoke of wars and anger ever since he was a boy. Some found it laughable that such a timid boy could ever even think of becoming a Viking before remembering such callous thinking had driven him away to begin with. They had hoped with this version, Hiccup could find peace with the mother he never knew at the Gods' table.

Stoick broke down in an instant when the arrows had been drawn back and fired and burned away at the ship that had barely escaped the docks. The horrible image of his son's body being on that ship crossed his mind and threatened to destroy him completely. Gobber had to carry him off while the others, with tears in their eyes, just watched the fire's glow drift further and further away, guilt tearing away and leaving them wondering what could have been done differently, what would have allowed them to escape this cruel fate.

Children who had been threatened by their parents to eat their vegetables in fear that they would become as weak as Hiccup and threw rocks at him for fun cried themselves to sleep for a solid month after. Not to mention they never came outside anymore to play. Adults felt so much guilt and sorrow that they couldn't get a goodnight's sleep for weeks on end, their nightmares filled with the memories of every rotten word they had said behind his back in gossip. They could just imagine Hiccup behind some house, completely shielded from view, hearing everything and sulking away afterwards. Some had called him a curse on the Haddock clan and the whole of Berk for his mother's pacifistic views on dragons. Others had wished outright that he had never been born and accusing him of being a waste of their time and resources. The teens at the academy were no different in the feelings of disgust that were felt when those times came back to mind. To think they called themselves brave and honorable warriors – to do something like that to one of their own, no matter their physical stature, was nothing short of cowardice.

In the moment of silence they all shared for Hiccup on the anniversary of the day they found his remains on the island, they figured to look at the bright side. If Hiccup really was dead, at least he was no longer in pain; he would be with his mother, dining in merriment in the next world, happy for once in his life. He would be safe and warm in his arms, and know what love truly was. At Odin's side, no one could make him feel small, inadequate, or worthless anymore – no one could hurt him ever again.

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><p>Stoick was at his breaking point.<p>

Here he was, back on the throne of Berk serving as the chief once more, but only because Snotlout was the farthest thing from a good chief. Now, because of him, houses were destroyed, resources were scarce, and people were sick and starving. They were all too weak to fight off dragons or invaders now, in no way capable of protecting themselves, let alone the village. His warriors were now as clumsy and dazed as they would be after drinking, unable to walk in a straight line and letting out all matter of gases from both ends. It was pathetically embarrassing to see that even the strongest among them could barely lift their own weapons anymore, just as Hiccup couldn't lift any weapon in general when he was still here.

Of course, some of the lazier, procrastinating Vikings saw this as nothing to worry about since the raids on Viking villages all over the archipelago had stopped completely six years ago. Still, there was the odd dragon attack here and there, and the Hooligans still had to worry about the once-caged dragons that were still on the loose and would probably be back to unleash their fury on the men that imprisoned them to begin with.

It was yet another particularly miserable day on Berk when wandered around the village, its remnants really, taking into account everything from the dangerously low supplies to the equally as low morale of the villagers. Men were repairing their houses at a sluggish pace while women were attending to the children who were running fevers left and right. Everything seemed to move much slower than it usually did – it seemed all the life had been drained away from their little town. Stoick could feel a headache worthy of five ice blocks to the head as he ran his fingers through his beard, which now had streaks of grey from the stress that came from everything. All he could think about as he gazed at the piteous state of Berk was how hopeless it seemed. He had to wonder how everything could have fallen apart in such a short amount of time, but it always went back to one person.

Stoick missed his son so much, more than he wanted to admit – who would have ever thought the village screw-up would have such an impact on them all?

If only Hiccup didn't leave, if only he had stayed and actually faced things head on like a man was supposed to do. People did think it a bit pathetic that Hiccup ran away like a whimpering infant instead of confronted everyone, but then again no one really cared to listen to his problems. A one-boy pity party, especially when that boy was Hiccup, was just one more headache the boy seemed to be so good at giving them.

On a similar note, some people had actually considered throwing a party to celebrate Hiccup's leaving when away from the throngs of Vikings who felt pity. Mildew the Unpleasant was the ringleader of this little group, and Stoick had strong suspicions his brother and Snotlout's father Spitelout was in on it too, from the hushed whispers of joy along the lines of 'good riddance to that rubbish' and 'I thought that stupid brat would never die' along with the particularly nasty 'those dragons did us a favor, eh?' They and several others had a particular distaste for Hiccup and his ridiculous ways, resenting him from the day he came into the world, and were callous enough to be in jovial spirits at the thought that Stoick's worthless runt of a son was dead. He remembered Gobber finding signs of a party in the Great Hall that one night, complete with music and an overabundance of what little remained of their food, and Mildew showed no shame in admitting the existence of their cruel revelry.

The boy was nothing but a burden, the bitter old man said, a punishment sent upon them by the Gods, and was enamored in the fantasy of the 'pathetic weakling' mutilated by the dragons, his vile tiny innards being devoured by the demons. The spawn of a dragon-loving witch like his late wife Valka should have been banished to the depths of Hel long ago and his and his mother's tormented screams of agony would be a sweet lullaby to so many of their young – rather dramatic but the point got through.

Several of the people found themselves agreeing, even those who were still feeling sick with themselves for influencing Hiccup's decision to run to his demise; it would forever be unknown how that man, as disliked as he was, was so easily capable of swaying public opinion. It was only with multiple broken bones and a swollen black eye delivered at the hard end of Stoick's fist did the miserable fool realize how close he was to banishment or death for his words. And from his example, people at that point just wanted to kill each other, any and all conversation focused solely on their anger towards themselves for their cruelty, for their exemption of Hiccup, their future chief, one of their own, from their oh-so-loving community. At that point, they didn't need the dragons anymore, Berk seemed fully intent on destroying itself out of grief, and Stoick was content to just watch it all happen.

For years, after his wife disappeared, Stoick didn't know what to do with his son – everything he was trying to say always came out wrong or was interpreted in a harsh way. Stoick had tried to keep his son indoors at all times, to protect him from the dangers of the world, since Hiccup was smaller than most Vikings his age were or should have been. Not only that, but Hiccup was always defying his orders, hence his breaking out and causing destruction all over the village that no one but the twins found amusing. Everyone viewed Hiccup as an impossible child that wasn't even worth Stoick's troubles, and as much as it shamed him, he began to think the same thing. He wished so hard and so often that Hiccup would just be… anything but Hiccup, a Viking that Berk could be proud of, a proper chief; really though, at this point anyone would be a better chief than Snotlout.

Now, though, Stoick wished Hiccup had just been able to be himself. Because of him, his son had probably spend days, weeks, or even months alone, cold, hungry and probably hurt. There he would have been, adrift at sea, the little boat he snuck away in tossed and thrown about by the rough waters until it capsized. By some sick taunt on Loki's part, Hiccup probably would have been washed up along the shores of an island where he would be found and murdered by wild dragons. Stoick could only imagine how scared his small son would had been, how he was probably torn to pieces and his body cremated, left as little black chunks all across the ground, his blood splattered everywhere, bite marks littering his body and probably left in pain for hours on end before passing away. The face he wore in his final moments would be a vision that would have haunted him for the rest of his days, a look of fear and despair while the images of his short, horrid life flashed before his eyes. There, on the beach of some unknown island, would he die, feeling unwanted and hated by the world, and terribly enough would probably welcome it, thinking his death the only thing to bring people happiness.

Stoick felt a few tears stream down the wrinkles of his tired face, but he quickly wiped them away with a rough hand, feeling the brush of his hard skin against his face. He needed to stay strong for his people, he needed to be like the wrecked totems that stood at the front of their island. Though battered, they still remained somewhat intact against the rough tides of the sea that crashed into them and the rainstorms that poured down day after day throughout the years; such was the responsibility of being chief, that weakness of any kind was not accepted.

But still, rock and stone eroded away, and just as those stone statues were crumbling away to nothing, even Stoick was starting to lose it. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out, the questions in his mind and the bog of the unknown appearing as the only answer in his mind. Without a definitive answer of what happened to his son, whether he was dead for sure or had somehow survived all this time, the Hairy Hooligan chief was sure his tribe would soon be done.

He watched from the frame of the door to his house, the only house that still stood intact, as the sun peaked out from the heavy clouds that had plagued the island since the day of Hiccup's funeral. Vikings were a superstitious lot, and so they believed such changed to be signs from their gods attempting to communicate with them. But why would this single ray of sunshine appear now to pierce the depression that had infected their island for years on end? Stoick could only wonder as he watched it shine down to a place far upon the horizon.

His weary eyes widened ever so slightly as an idea began to form in his head; was it possible that he was… no, it wasn't. He shook his head and grasped it with his hand to stave of the headache that foolish hopes like that always seemed to bring. It had been six years since he left, and who knows how long after that he ran before his untimely death, he couldn't possibly be alive. Not a small boy like him.

But, Stoick wouldn't let it go – he couldn't, he found himself realizing. But what reason did he have to hope now, when he had long since accepted that his son was gone forever and he was alone in the world? Why did the gods torment him with this dead-end chance? Then again, though… what proof did he have that Hiccup was truly dead? Everyone really only assumed he was based on that shred of tunic they found on the island where the nest was. The bit of dried, crusty blood was too small an amount to suggest that murder had occurred, and there was no trace of a body there either. For all anyone knew, Hiccup could very well have gotten away with a simple injury and moved on – how it might have happened, though, Stoick wasn't concerned with at the moment. He felt himself daring to hope again, to believe that his son had fought the odds and was… somewhere out there.

What did he have to lose for it? His pride? Screw pride, the chief thought, the future of this tribe was more important than-

No, he though solemnly. My son is more important than pride.

Mind made up, he started running in the direction of the forge. There, right by the grinding wheel, sharpening an axe was Gobber, carrying on his work while whistling a happy tune, probably just trying to keep his spirits up like he always did. Gods only know how he was truly taking it all; Hiccup had been apprenticed to him for a long time, since he was 5 or 6 years old in fact and Stoick pushed him upon the crippled smith just so he could have a place to contribute to the village. At least that's what he said it was for – really it was just to keep the little pest from causing the villagers trouble, some already forming truly negative opinions of him.

Nasty gossip was buzzing around like flies even before he began his habits of building ridiculous inventions that did more harm than good, and no one was willing to stop anytime soon. Gobber seemed to be the one that Hiccup talked to most in those days; whenever he had a problem or whenever he was bullied, Gobber was always the one he went to, perhaps out of fear of his own father, or rather the man who carried that title. Stoick couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy towards his own friend for what in some views might have been stealing his son away. Nowadays though, he couldn't really help but feel thankful that Hiccup had someone to rely on, as painful as it was that he couldn't seem to trust, or perhaps even feared him.

The song sounded familiar, but Stoick couldn't have been sure since the sound of the metal blade scraping on the stone wheel far outmatched it in volume. He was now wearing a metal mask upon his face that covered his weary eyes to protect them from the shower of sparks that came out. Stoick figured it was as good a time as any to just randomly burst in through the front door, nearly giving Gobber a heart attack and yet another severed limb as he let the axe slip from his hand, sending it flying through the air and stumbling forward a bit.

Stoick nonchalantly grabbed the flying weapon in his hand and tossed it to the side, into a pile of old scrap metal by the door. He walked forward to Gobber, mostly unconcerned at his little accident. "Supply the weapons and ready a vessel. We're goin' on a trip."

Gobber managed to snap out of his slight daze to look up at Stoick, removing the mask from his face. "Eh? Trip? Stoick, this is really bad timin' for another voyage."

"I don't care," Stoick snapped. "Just do as I say and get the ship ready!"

"Alright, chief crankypants," Gobber muttered and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Just curious, though, what's so important that yu gotta take off now and leave Berk, or what's left of it, behind?"

"We're goin' to find my son," Stoick stated heading out the door while Gobber followed, hobbling along. "And I won't be satisfied until we find him, dead or alive."

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><p><strong>As you can see, things have gotten pretty depressing. But this is only the beginning of the drama.<strong>

**As always, review, favorite, follow.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello, people!**

**So I see that favorites and follows have really begun to pick up since the time skip started. Apparently all of you have been waiting for the moment I sprung the hot, 20-year old Hiccup on you. Well, all your waiting has paid off. But if your still waiting for the big payoff for everybody's favorite dragon rider, then keep reading; that is coming up very soon.**

**On that note, I've also noticed my writing has gotten you pretty ticked off at the Berkians, both here and in Dragon's Hero. Yeah, I've noticed that as well. But if you're still steamed, go back and read the last chapter. You'll be delighted to see how karma has reared its ugly head for them.**

**Now then, let's get on with the new chapter! This might be one of my best yet!**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>It was a week and an half later and the whole village of Draak was buzzing in anticipation as they prepared for a great celebration. Vikings were on the backs of their dragons stringing banners of colorful designs all over the place, from the man beams of houses and on the towering pillars on the streets. The banners themselves had tribal designs made in vibrant colored paints, some depicted the visages of dragons and their riders, while others had images of the gods Odin, Thor, Magni, and the rest. Like so many times in recent years, the sky was perfectly clear, a beautiful shade of blue, with the sun shining down providing the perfect temperature for one of today's two big events: the Sky Parade.<p>

The parade began years ago as a commemorative celebration for Hiccup's bringing peace between Vikings and dragons. It was held every year on the anniversary of the day Hiccup defeated the Red Death and was brought home by Alta and the other teens. The villagers would gather large groups of one breed of dragon and guide them in coordinated flight paths around the village. It started out limited, with just the common breeds of Nadders, Gronckles, Zipplebacks, Terrors, and Nightmares, but became more interesting to the populace once other, rarer breeds of dragons started coming around. Now the parade had dragons of all breeds coming, making for an extravagant performance. And with the addition of the Chinese dragons, Xiao Longs as they were called, the whole event became more spectacular. They could swim around and unleash their blasts of rainbow-colored fire that swirled around and danced in the air before bursting in a shower of shimmering embers. It was always a crowd-pleaser and so they were reserved exclusively for the parade and the championship dragon race.

The guy responsible for planning the parades and now was at the center of attention was now hanging out outside the Great Hall, just sitting on the steps slumped down. Today was perhaps the biggest day of his life, a day he never thought possible. The day he, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the Dragon Whisperer, became chief of a tribe. It was an awkward feeling to be sure: he may have been born into a position of authority as the heir to Berk, he certainly never thought he was the leader-type. No one else saw that quality in him either, rather they saw it absurd to think such a weak boy whose heart bled as much as he did as the result of the many accidents he caused could ever become the leader of anything.

He always figured Snotlout would take over; everyone seemed to like him more as a leader anyway, regardless of his unbearable attitude. Hiccup would have been just fine fading into the crowd on that day, keeping peoples' expectations of him as low as possible, so he couldn't disappoint anyone anymore. He would stopped being pushed around, forced to be something he could never be, and just maybe, his father and everyone else could cut him some slack for once.

Hiccup scoffed; who was he kidding? The second Snotlout became chief, he'd be shipped off the island tied in rope so he wouldn't do anything stupid and tossed into a boat like a sack of dead weight, his last view of Berk being the village cheering in celebration over his banishment. As certain as it would be that Snotlout's being chief would lead to disaster, his ascension to the role would have been the perfect excuse to be rid of the village nuisance. People had had it out for him since the beginning and sending him away would have been something more heavily anticipated than any birthday, festival, or Snoggletog. They most certainly wouldn't expect anything from him anymore because he wouldn't be around to sicken them anymore with his abnormality and clumsiness. Best day on Berk, ever…

"Hiccup? Hello, Midgard to Hiccup?" A young man said, waving his hand in front of Hiccup's face.

Hiccup blinked and shook his head to look up at a young man about his age with spiky dirty red hair tied into a small ponytail in the back. He wore a form-fitting leather vest over a simple sleeveless tunic and a scarf around his neck with frayed ends. His belt had two fox tails hanging from the side and his knee-length boots had knee guards attached and numerous small belts wrapped around. The woven and stitched bands wrapped around his arms were topped with fur and had paws tied over the backs. He had large straps over his legs and chest, with daggers and throwing knives secured on them all. He gave Hiccup a beaming smile that crumpled the two scratches on his face, holding his hands over his hips.

"Oh, Ot," Hiccup said, holding his hand to his forehead. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"So you did zone out. I said, are you excited?" Ot asked.

"Ah, yeah, I really am. I mean, it's such a huge honor," Hiccup admitted. "But... I'm also really nervous. W-What if… what if I mess up? What if I don't do a good job? I mean, I never thought I'd get this far."

"So you take down a dragon the size of an island, face and tame dragons from all over the world, including the most dangerous one in, like, existence, and the thought of being a chief freaks you out?" Ot asked placing a calming hand on his shoulder, sitting down right beside him. "Relax, pal, you've got nothing to worry about. You're, like, a hundred different kinds of amazing! I know you're gonna be just perfect!" The man started bouncing in place, unable to keep his energy in check today.

Ot was Hiccup's best friend of the same age, as well as his soon-to-be second-in-command. The two met not long after Hiccup had returned to Draak from his voyage around the world; Ot came to the island two years after Hiccup, after escaping pirates who captured his family of nomads. Their supplies had been raided and their boat completely destroyed, leaving him to be washed onto Draak's shores on a plank of wood. The people had helped him recover, and by the time he was back up on his feet, Hiccup came; the fact that he had appeared with so many dragons served as a very interesting first impression. The two managed to hit it off pretty quickly after they first met, especially once Ot had learned of Hiccup's many accomplishments, although it took a while for him to drop the hero worship thing and have a normal friendly relationship.

Ot never ceased to find a way to keep his days exciting; he was eccentric, hyperactive, and impetuous, coming up with ideas many times crazier than even Hiccup's. His favorite pastime was knife juggling, a particularly dangerous activity, especially when unsuspecting villagers, usually those who were being a pain in the arse like Ruoy usually was, were used as targets for the big finale. He reminded Hiccup a bit of Dagur the Deranged, the lunatic heir to the Berserker Tribe, who loved to torment Hiccup out of pure boredom, except that Ot was far more tolerable.

Ot was a good person with a smile like sunshine, he was very supportive and he loved his dragon, Blueskin the Deadly Nadder, named for his beautiful sapphire scales. Together, the two of them were at the top of the standings in the Dragon Races, their habits of training in perilous areas around the island with Hiccup and Toothless always keeping them at the top of their game, even if they could never beat their mock opponents.

"But hey, I totally get the whole 'nervous' thing," Ot said. "I mean, gods, Hiccup the Dragon Whisperer, chief of Draak, leader of man and dragon alike." He waved his arms in the air as if to emphasize the title in writing out of the clouds above. "We're talking life-changing stuff here, this has probably gotta be the most important day of your life, it's such a huge honor and-"

"And you're only making me more nervous," Hiccup finished for him, his classic irritated, raised-eyebrow look cutting off his rambling. Ot did truly mean well, but his pep-talks never really pulled off the desired result with saying mostly unnecessary things.

"Oh, sorry. I did it again, didn't I?," Ot apologized, to which Hiccup nodded with a smile. "Well, you can't blame a guy for getting excited, can you!?"

"You can if he gets excited over every little thing." Hiccup deadpanned.

"Okaaay, well then, just try to take your mind off it." Ot suggested, with his Nadder Blueskin coming right from behind and squeezing his muzzle right under his arm for a nice head rub. Ot practically didn't notice and just continued talking while automatically obliging the dragon. "We still got the big Sky Parade today too, and don't forget the semifinals for this season's Dragon Racing tournament. You know me and Blueskin are gonna take home the gold again!"

"Right, stop thinking about my big day and go right to thinking about yours," Hiccup sarcastically commented as Toothless himself appeared, laying his head down on Hiccup's lap. Just like Ot with Blueskin, Hiccup automatically started petting Toothless' head without even looking, but still heard the happy purr from his ever-loyal dragon companion. "And for the record, how does the celebration of heroism on my part help me to take my mind off of things?"

"Hey, if people were throwing a big parade in my honor, I'd be pretty psyched." Ot commented.

"That makes one of us…" Hiccup rolled his eyes, Toothless giving a dragon chuckle at the joke.

"Huh, well, I see classic Viking ego skipped your generation." Ot said as he crossed his arms on Blueskin's head and giving a smirk.

"Yeah, not to mention the muscle, or what passes for it in most cases." Hiccup swore in his mind, one of the first things he was going to do once he was chief was put everyone on a diet. What to some seemed like rock-hard bodies of towering strength seemed more like oversized stuffed chickens to Hiccup and the rest of the younger generation. It was a good thing he had brought so many grains and vegetables from his travels.

"Still, I'd have to say you, are a better person than most. All the more reason you are gonna rock hard as chief around here." Ot said.

"Thanks, really" Hiccup said, truly grateful for Ot's continuous help over the years. Somewhere inside, it seemed like just that helped to tame the turbulent waters within his mind and kept his nerves relaxed. He had to remember that people were not just giving him expectations to bear down on him as Berk solely did, but their full support as well to shoulder the weight of it all together. They rallied around him and chose him as chief because they knew what he was capable of, and were excited to see the brighter future he would lead them all toward. The least he could do, knowing they all believed in him, was to believe in himself for once.

He took a look out at the village, watching the cheerful sight of dragons and humans eagerly working together in perfect harmony to make something special for the one who made it all possible. "It all just… it still seems so unreal. I never imagined anything like this; I never thought a day like this would come."

"Why? Because of those ungrateful nimrods on Berk?" Ot asked, remembering the stories of how Hiccup was mistreated, abused, and forgotten. As jovial as Ot had sounded at the time, deep inside he was just as furious as anyone else at how badly Hiccup had been hurt. "Pfft! Losers! Those guys wouldn't know a good thing happening to them if it smacked them in the face! I bet they didn't even bother to put together a search party to look for you!"

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed. "They probably had a funeral for me the second they found out I left! I can see my gravestone now – 'Here lies Hiccup, gone and soon to be forgotten!'"

Before long the two started laughing at the whole situation, what had been the popular and not entirely unfounded assumption of Berk's reaction to his departure. Life could have gone an easier pace there now that the one element just as troublesome as any of the dragons that attacked the village was gone. After the initial celebrations, they could imagine some would take no small amount of effort to forget Hiccup's existence entirely, completely erase the blight on their land and replace it with new, better memories of life without him. Both men were furious truthfully, but on a day like today, they found themselves only able to laugh at the callousness of Hiccup's former home. Really, it was a mature way to deal with things, even if the bitterness towards the situation never truly went away.

"Then they probably raided your room for stuff for trade like a pack of wild dragons!" Ot joked.

Hiccup just continued to laugh at the joke until his ribs started hurting and he ran out of breath. Toothless lifted his head and looked at Hiccup while the man regained the air in his lungs. "So true, it hurts," He said in between pants.

Ot just chuckled and gave Hiccup a pat on the back. "All right, come on, chuckles, let's go help get everything ready. Might as well channel all that nervous energy into making sure your special day goes off without a hitch."

"Alright, alright." Hiccup said with a similar chuckle. Ot helped pick Hiccup up by the shoulders, and together they walked towards the Great Hall, their dragons close behind. The laughing had already helped calm Hiccup down a great deal, knowing that things had changed so much. He was now free of that dark past, and no one from Berk was here to ruin things for him. He was a new person now, perhaps he was now the person he was always meant to be, and he knew he was the person he wanted to be. This was a major turning point in his life, and he wasn't about to change direction now.

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><p>A poorly put-together sailboat back and forth on the calm morning sea; the waves lapped against the tattered hull of the boat, allowing subtle amounts of water to leak in. The boards were hurriedly hammered together, giving the impression that the boat would break and sink any second. It was noon, several heavy rain clouds filling the sky with threat of a storm, but for the moment, save the sound of the flowing water and the wind against the ragged mast above, all was quiet. But within the mind of Stoick the Vast, who stood at the front of the boat overlooking the wide ocean ahead, the storm had already begun.<p>

A maelstrom of furious desire raging within him, all focused on a single goal, as vague as the journey towards that goal seemed to be. He wanted his son, he contained to think, not caring in the slightest if Hiccup refused or complained in any way. He had put up with his son's incessant whining for 14 years, and this time he would not have any of it; this time he would listen to reason and come home, and Stoick was ready to tie him to the mast of the boat and gag him, forcing him back if need be. Hiccup would return to Berk so that he could be groomed to become Berk's chief – he would hammer the knowledge into his son's head, shove food down his throat to make him strong and throw him into a cell with a hundred dragons so he could kill them all. Berk's chief needed to be perfect in order to restore it to its former glory.

Though he remained perfectly still with his foot on the rim of the ship, in his head Stoick was pacing back and forth, wondering what would happen when he saw his son again. No doubt he would be upset somewhat, but knowing Hiccup he would probably just keep his opinions to himself. He was never the type to engage in any actual conflict, another sign of his weirdness and natural inability to be a proper Viking and chief, but this time it would be all for the better. Besides, surely he would be able to see that his people, his family, had come to take him home, and they would be able to put any past issues behind them. For whatever reason, the boy had a very forgiving nature, and could overlook whatever people might say to him, so really, odds were that this wouldn't take too much effort on their part.

Stoick had been out on the sea searching for just over a week, with his crew composed of Gobber and Hiccup's fellow Vikings from dragon training: Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut. The young ones had come of their own volition, Stoick could only assume for various reasons, especially in the case of Snotlout and the twins, who Gobber said were particularly distant from Hiccup, though why Stoick had allowed mere children to come, no one really knew. One thing was for sure, though, and that was they were no longer children – they had grown up and were now on the cusp of adulthood themselves. Save for Snotlout and the twins, who still seemed the same as they were six years ago; then again, no one really expected those muttonheads to grow up. Really, though, they all retained some aspect of their former selves, perhaps due to the stasis Berk had found itself in since Hiccup's disappearance. Some assumed that was why the teens decided to go with Stoick – so they could find the truth, accept reality, and finally move on with their lives, as empty as those lives would be now that the war was seemingly over and there was no real path forward.

Out of his peripheral vision, Stoick could see the young Hofferson girl making her way to the front of the ship to join him. Astrid's appearance had changed quite a bit in the years between – if anything, she had now become even more gorgeous. Her hair was now neater, the bangs that covered her left eye parted back, with her usual braid hanging behind. She wore a short cape of fur secured by her skull pins and the iron pauldrons on her shoulders atop a cloth-wrapped red shirt. Her skirt was composed of fur and spiked leather with a belt of skulls, and wore arm and leg bands made entirely of fur and bound by rope. Her favorite axe was slung over her shoulder, carefully sharpened and preserved, though as hard as she or Gobber tried, they could never match the refined quality that Hiccup had always placed into their work.

She had become much gentler and kinder over the years, showing a bit more patience towards everyone whereas the old Astrid would have just chucked a weapon or delivered a hard punch towards anyone who annoyed her. People assumed it was most likely Hiccup's influence that had changed her, most notably her parents, who had always seen the wistful look in her eyes whenever she thought about him. It was, they believed, the driving force behind her turning down so many potential suitors, despite their promises of wealth and status, regardless of whether they had been from Berk or otherwise. Make no mistake though, she was still the tough as nails shield –maiden she had always been, as fierce and devoted to her tribe as ever. It was this loyalty in itself that now drew her to the side of her chief, the man she had spent her entire life trying to emulate.

Stoick continued to stare off into the distance, his gaze focused on nothing and something all at once. He was prepared to take his son back by force if need be, yet he wanted to at least say something to Hiccup to try and convince him to come home on his own. What would he say though, what could he say to bring Hiccup home where he belonged? At this point, though, he wasn't even sure if he could handle seeing Hiccup again, dead or alive. Astrid looked sympathetically at the Hairy Hooligan chief; she couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she could tell that he was torn up inside. The stress of the whole situation was getting to him, she was sure, and she felt it wasn't long before he snapped.

"Hey," she said to him. "We'll find him. We'll bring him home and make everything right."

Stoick didn't look at her, didn't say a word, didn't move a single muscle. But she could see a small smile in his eyes, the first smile he had given in six long years.

"Unless, of course he really is dead, in which case we're all just wasting our time, here." Gobber started while hobbling over to Stoick's other side.

"Not helping, Gobber…" Astrid growled with gritted teeth and a deadly glare pointed in the old blacksmith's direction.

"I'm just saying six years is a long time, he could very well have run into 'the Dragon Conqueror' by then…' Gobber crossed his arms and mused, ignoring Astrid's look. The smile in Stoick's eyes had completely disappeared by then, replaced with a dark, hateful scowl.

The Dragon Conqueror was a mysterious man that had appeared in the Archipelago over 3 years ago from seemingly nowhere. He had the ability to control dragons and rode atop one as he travelled about freeing stray dragons from trappers and hunters and taking them off to who knows where. They say that he had even bended the Night Fury to his will, the most majestic and powerful dragon of them all, and that very same dragon served as his personal steed. No one had ever seen him before, so most weren't even sure if he was real or not, especially when the rumors about him had become highly exaggerated. According to stories spinning around Outcast and Berserker Island, he was 8 to ten feet, could yank a large oak tree out of the ground with one hand, and had a battle cry as terrifying as any dragon's.

Opinions were divided among those who had heard of him, regardless of whether or not they believed he truly existed. Some, like those on Berk, believed he was insane scum to want to work together with those abominations of nature. Others, like the Outcasts and Berserkers, viewed him as a vital asset to gaining power, and so engaged in numerous expeditions to find him and acquire his dragon-controlling secrets. Either way, it was safe to assume that the Dragon Conqueror was the most dangerous man in existence, and if he had gotten to Hiccup, then Odin help him.

"I'm sure Hiccup is out there. He's a smart guy, no way the Dragon Conqueror found him." Astrid reassured Stoick. "And I'm sure everyone else thinks so too!" She called out to everyone on the ship as more of a warning than a statement.

Everyone else just scoffed or grunted in begrudging agreement; in their minds, Hiccup was still the twig of a boy he had always been, always needing someone to rescue him from something. The boy couldn't fight any battle on his own, and his dumb gadgets wouldn't be able to help him if he did indeed run into the Dragon Conqueror.

"Well, if we're being real here…" Tuffnut said with the stupidity and the audacity to voice this opinion out. Astrid turned her glare to him with a shotgun turn of her head, so quick her neck might have snapped. The dimwitted Viking was shut up immediately.

"She told you," Ruffnut giggled.

"No she didn't, she didn't say anything!" Tuffnut argued. "You think you're a mind reader or something!?... Wait, that's actually pretty cool, tell me what I'm thinking right now…" And just like that, he had completely fallen off topic with the previous conversation.

"You're thinking… of licking my boots!" Ruffnut joked.

"Hey, that's not what I was thinking! Or was it? Do I even like the taste of boots? Hey, tell me, you're supposed to be a mind reader!" Tuffnut shouted.

"Sorry, you'd need a mind to read first!" Ruffnut joked again.

"Whatever, you don't even know how to read at all!" Tuffnut shot back.

"Oh, yeah!? Say that again! Ruffnut argued. And with that, the twins got into another fit of rough-housing, shoving each other, yanking each other's braids, and rolling around on the floor in a tangle of limbs and hair. Snotlout only scoffed and looked out at the sea, pouting and slowly growing more seasick up to the point where he threw up over the side of the boat. Fishlegs tried his best to stop the fighting, but his quiet voice was completely unheard and he was just knocked over when the twins rolled into him. Astrid could only shake her head at their ridiculous behavior and return her attention to Stoick, the man still looking out and ignoring everything around him.

"He is out there, sir. I know it, I can feel it. We will find him."

Again he ignored her, but he still agreed deep down. He was going to find him and bring him home, and may Loki grant his crooked blessings to his servant the Dragon Conqueror and his atrocious pets if he got in his way.

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><p>"Look who came to see his father," said Woh, holding Alvis in her arms at the doorway to the Great Hall, even though he was a little too big to be held. Woh hadn't changed all that much, her hair was still the same and she was still as rebellious towards her father, although he was a bit more lenient with her now. She wore a furry vest that only reached down to her abdomen over a long sleeved blue tunic, and a navy blue skirt lined with fur and extensions over the back over simple rope wrapped pants and boots.<p>

She was with her dragon, the Changewing that had taken her hostage six years ago, who she had now named Violet, and the two normally worked as assistants at the Dragon Hospital. Violet was a relatively peaceful dragon, it seemed, and really loved flowers, which, along with flowers, contributed into the choice of her name. On their off hours, the two were frequently called upon to babysit Alvis while his father was working on new construction projects around the village and his mother, now the head teacher at the Academy, was teaching her classes.

"Go say hi to your daddy!" Woh said, setting Alvis on the ground.

"Daddy!" Alvis rushed through the door and into the hall as fast as his little feet would carry him. The hall was filled to the brim with large banners that hung from the rafters with designs of dragons and their riders, each one made by a different family on the island. There were torches that lined the hallway, ready to be lit once the ceremony started, and large amounts of light shone through the large open windows that would soon be closed. He ran across the long rug that extended right through along the numerous rows of chairs that were brought in once the tables where people normally ate had been pushed aside into the center ring. Standing there, right before the fire pit in front of the largest banners that depicted the Night Fury above the symbol of the Bone Heads, was his father. Alvis made it all the way to the front and jumped right into Hiccup's arms, the man just catching him at the last second.

"Hey son!" Hiccup said, swinging his son in his arms. Seeing that huge smile on his boy's face only made Hiccup calmer in the face of his big moment. More than that, though, he was all the more grateful he had made the choice to save that unhappy child he was so long ago. He was relieved every time he saw Alvis's face to know he had the boy that became his son here on Draak with him and not laying on the cold ground somewhere, dead. In a lifetime of disappointment, sorrow, and loneliness, Hiccup had found he had things now that could truly make him happy and proud.

"You're pretty excited today, aren't you?" Hiccup asked.

"Totally!" Alvis shrieked, waving his arms about. "My dad's gonna be the chief! I get to come to the ceremony, right?"

"Yes you do, son," Hiccup said, cradling him down the steps while Alvis wrapped his arms around his father's neck. The feat of carrying a person would have been a difficult task for the old Hiccup, so the small hint of astonished pride he felt was only natural.

"Hey, dad? When you become chief, does that mean you can tell everybody what to do?" Alvis asked innocently.

"Well, that is a part of it, but I don't just boss everybody around for no reason." Hiccup said.

"But being chief means you can do whatever you want, right? Because you're in charge and everybody has to listen to you." Alvis asked again.

Hiccup understood that Alvis was young, and from the eyes of youth, that seemed to be what being a leader entailed. It was an enticing thing to think about for children, who knew nothing of the tenants of chiefdom until they were old enough to gain a broader understanding. But youth or not, such thoughts only reminded him of his cousin Snotlout, who would have indeed only cared about getting his way all the time. Hiccup knew from the beginning, based on how Hairke led and the lessons he gave to him that being chief itself was a big responsibility. The benefits of the role weren't supposed to distract one from that.

"There's more to being a leader than just getting your way all the time." Hiccup informed with a firm tone but a gentle smile. "It's a real job. People do have to listen to you… but it's important that you give them a reason to."

"Like how you beat the Queen dragon and now all the dragons like you?" Alvis asked, knowing how attached to his father every dragon on the island seemed to be. Every morning, each of their scaled neighbors would greet him with a soft purr, a coo, or even a quick nuzzle, as annoying as it was to Toothless, his father's own dragon.

"Exactly. A chief is someone people can depend on, someone they can trust to…put others before himself and do the right thing for everyone. They're the one that leads, but the ones that follow need a reason to follow." Hiccup asked trying to sound as profound as possible, since it wasn't exactly his strong suit. He once saw his father as such a man, a selfless person who could put the needs of others before himself.

But of course, wanting a son who wasn't a shame to his family name and wanting others to respect and obey him without question put those thoughts out of his head. Even his long-standing wish to see the dragons ended was born of pure revenge for the death of his wife. Everything that man did was purely for his own benefit, he just knew how to twist his words around to make it appear otherwise. Hiccup had to admit, Stoick was more cunning than he gave the man credit for.

"Umm…" Alvis mused. "I don't really get it."

Hiccup chuckled. "Don't worry, you will someday." He suddenly moved Alvis around to his ear was right next to Hiccup's mouth. "I'll tell you a little secret." He whispered.

"What is it?" Alvis asked, every inch of his face and every facet of his gaze laced with curiosity. He loved it when his father shared little secrets with him, and by the subtle tone of excitement in his father's voice, this secret sounded pretty good. But of all the possibilities of what it could be to Alvis, the little boy couldn't focus on a single one. What could possibly be any more exiting, really, than the fact that his father was going to be chief soon enough? Hiccup found it amusing to keep the little boy in suspense as he walked back down the makeshift aisle in the hall back to the doorway, steeping back out into the fresh air and warm sunlight of outside. The two just took in the sight of the village for the umpteenth time today, the older man holding his son in silence, letting his eyes shut and losing himself in the tranquil collaboration of flapping banners against the wind and wings up in the sky.

"One day… it's going to be you in my place." Hiccup said, looking back down at his son. "One day, all this is going to be yours." Alvis only stared back silently before letting the statement sink in entirely. An entire picture was painted in the boy's head with his father's words as the brush and colors, of him as a parallel of the man who held him with a loyal and powerful dragon at his side. The two of them overlooking a small kingdom situated on the ocean, thousands of cheering men surrounding them, singing their praises and pledging their blades to him, while a halo of dragons circled above in similar feelings. Alvis could only squeal in delight, shooting back up and grasping his father's shoulders again, with a thrilled bounce in his body this time around. Hiccup was taken aback slightly by his son's sudden gesture of affection, but gladly returned his embrace nonetheless.

"Wow, the only other time you're this excited is when your mom gives you that jam pie you love so much," Hiccup mused, lovingly stroking his son's back. "Guess dessert's got some competition now, huh?"

"I'm gonna be chief! I'm gonna be chief!" Alvis cheered. "That's better than jam pies, birthdays and Snoggletogs combined! I'm gonna be a great chief and dragon rider, just like you, dad!"

Hiccup could only give the biggest smile he had ever given in his life upon hearing those words, awash in that sense of pride and joy that only a parent could feel. It rushed through him like the wind breezing past a field of grass, blowing the blades back against the land. He had known his entire life how, good or bad, words had powerful effect on people and how they viewed themselves. There was just something in words like those, though, that filled every parent, to know that their child saw them as a role model, held on a pedestal and admired in full like they were the greatest blessing upon the world. He had once felt that for his own father before those feelings were lost to the heavy criticism and scowls of shame he had always received. They were clear messages of how his admirations fell upon unfeeling shoulders and knocked away like bothersome flies. Now that he was, now that he could be a hero to someone else, Hiccup wasn't going to waste or ignore it; instead he would become the guide and supporting hand Alvis would need to ensure he reached his full potential. The best way to do that, Hiccup decided then and there, was to live up to his own potential. He wanted more than to have a son he could be proud of, he wanted to have a son who could be proud of him.

"Well, first thing's first. You want to be chief, you'll have to wait until your dad's had his turn." Hiccup said, playfully moving a hand before Alvis's face and flicking his nose. Alvis just giggled and rubbed his button-like nose as if a little ladybug had just landed there and taken off.

"I know that! And you're gonna be the best chief ever!... Um, speaking of… when do you become chief?" Alvis asked.

"The ceremony begins in an hour," Hiccup said.

"Can't we start it now?" Alvis asked impatiently, fidgeting more in his father's grasp.

"Sorry son," Hiccup said. "But not everything's in place yet. We've still got a lot to do around here."

"Aww!"

"Okay, little guy, no point complaining about it." Woh said as she came from behind and took Alvis from Hiccup's arms, placing him on Violet's back. The Changewing saw Alvis pout a bit and grasp her neck for balance with his tiny hands. Who knelt down to his level and smiled. "Why don't we go back down to the square and help put up the decorations with the others? You can put up that banner you and the other kids made in class." She sung.

"Really? Yay! Let's go!" Alvis immediately cheered, forgetting his impatience mere seconds ago. Hiccup and Woh both laughed at his sudden mood swing.

"See you at the ceremony, Hiccup. Or should I say chief." Woh said still chuckling while she, her dragon, and Alvis walked back down to the village square. Hiccup chuckled still watching the trio disappear into the masses of Viking and dragons polishing up the village. That boy was more excited than everyone in Draak put together, and that was saying something.

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><p>Stoick remained on the deck, as unmoving as any statue erected in his honor would be, still focused on the horizon ahead. The incessant chattering and petty squabbles of his shipmates were completely ignored behind him. In his head, Stoick was turning over all the way their meeting with Hiccup could go, every possible scenario based on what he did or didn't say. As willing as he was to force his son to come home, he really hoped it would not have to come to that. It may have been the only thing he would respond to, since gods knew orders and scolding never really worked. But Hiccup had always been a timid child and never adopted the brutality of his father or fellow Vikings, so harsh tones and physical efforts could possibly serve to push him away even more.<p>

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he heard a wet smack against his helmet; looking up he saw a day-old fish lying there, its mixed smell of fish and human hands pungent enough to snuff out any sense of edibility. He gave a dirty look back to the culprits, the twins, who were playing catch with it, and immediately tried to pin the blame on each other under their chief's intimidating glare. It wasn't long before yet another fight between the two broke out, but Stoick only scoffed and let it go. He had too much to think about already to worry about two immature Vikings who shared one dysfunctional mind between them both.

Before Stoick could even get his mind back on track, the boat shook violently against something, nearly knocking him over on his rear. He had only managed to keep himself balanced by grabbing hold of the boat, the weak wood nearly breaking under his grip. The others had managed to do the same while the boat shook and started to break apart over the jagged rocks underneath.

"Land Ho!" Gobber yelled as the ship came to a stop upon the shores of a beach, several of the wood planks falling to the ground. It was a wonder to the smith as he reeled in the sails and dropped down the cracked stone anchor below that their ship was even still intact at that very moment.

Before the ship had even come to a complete halt, Astrid had already grabbed the side and vaulted herself onto the edge of the shore, her boots splashing on the shallow water before walking up to the sand. She took a moment to take in her surroundings – the island they were on was completely unknown territory to them, not found on any map and far too distant from any of the other islands. It looked to be like any other island though, a beach filled with sand, rocks, and patches of dune grass here and there. The sand stopped a little ways ahead though, making way for lush grass that led the way to a dense forest.

It was nothing special, just a plain, seemingly uninhabited island, but to a runaway like Hiccup, it would be the perfect place to hide and live in peaceful isolation. She heard thumps behind her and turned back to see that Stoick, Gobber, and her companions had joined her on the beach. Stoick and Gobber had landed without a hitch, while the other quickly lost their balance and clumsily fell on their stomachs or butts, Astrid inwardly groaning at the sight.

"So, what's the plan now?" Tuffnut asked rubbing his rear as he stood back up and joined the others.

"Yeah," Ruffnut agreed, both twins quickly adopting their classic dim faces. "We've been kind of unclear about it since day one." Stoick slapped his face at the twins' ignorance. His son may have been the biggest, but he certainly wasn't the only sign that Berk's future looked bleak. Apparently, unless it involved fire, explosions, or something getting broken, the Thorston sibling preferred to remain blissfully ignorant and not care in the slightest. It showed in the way they were among the first eliminated during dragon training when they were still children: they had complete disregard for strategy and willingly stepped into the line of fire hoping that they could be mauled or scarred by the dragons so they'd have something to brag about. That was the problem with young Vikings these days, too focused on looking heroic instead of being heroic.

The similar looks of exasperation on Astrid and Gobber showed he wasn't alone in this opinion. "Really?" Astrid asked "After we went over this, like a million times on the way here?" The twins just continued to look as confused as ever, saying nothing in response.

Stoick sighed. "We're goin' ta look for Hiccup, Berk needs a new chief."

"Uh, hello," Snotlout scoffed from behind them, leaning on the boat and buffing his fingernails with a smug scowl. "Berk already had the perfect chief, and you're looking at him. Why you'd want a sorry wimp like Useless over yours truly is totally beyond me."

"Well, he is Stoick's son, and well…" Fishlegs piped up from behind.

"And what!?" Snotlout threatened, charging up to Fishlegs and grabbing him by the hem of his fur tunic. He had a calloused hand clenched into a fist, aimed right for the large young man's face. "You got something to say, spit it out!" Fishlegs only whimpered as Snotlout tightened the grip he had on his tunic.

Fishlegs had to gather up every ounce of courage to utter a response in front of Snotlout's intimidating image, which somehow wasn't as hard as he'd imagined it to be. This was the face of the guy he'd abandoned Hiccup to hang out with, to be less of a reject and not have to be mocked like he was. The guy who even size couldn't protect him from as he snuffed out any amount of free thought and opinion to mold him into a sad little lackey. And now, it was the face of the guy who'd let their whole village fall to pieces and still thought himself king of the world. Fishlegs couldn't help but let slip the underlying hint of anger in his voice at the lowdown bully.

"And… and he'd… make a better chief than you."

Snotlout just stood there flabbergasted – did this fat nimrod say what he thought he said? There wasn't even a typical Fishlegs word of 'maybe' or 'possibly,' no amount of uncertainty whatsoever. Fishlegs actually thought that Hiccup the Useless, Stoick's eternal shame, would make a better chief than him, the most perfect, flawless Viking in existence. His face contorted into a look of pure rage and prepared to pound Fishlegs head in before a hook to the head from Gobber knocked him aside.

"Tha's enough out a you." Gobber lectured, waving his hook hand down. "No point in gettin' angry now. You got tha boot years ago, and ya know, people 'ave still got quite a few bones ta pick with you." Snotlout just stared back in anger and defiance while hearing the twins snicker behind him in mockery that he was being scolded like a child.

"So a few houses got trampled and we lost some food, wah wah wah! I don't see how it's my fault those morons couldn't do their jobs right!" Snotlout shot back.

Suddenly, a dagger shot right at him, zipping through the air and lodging itself firmly in the sand in between his fingers. The dagger had landed just a mere half a centimeter away from the rest of his hand, too close to miss. Snotlout let loose a girly-sounding yelp and drew his hand back instantly in fear and shock, whoever threw it had to have had unerring accuracy. He dared to look up and see that the culprit was none other than an extremely annoyed Astrid, still extending her arm out in an incriminating position to confirm her indirect assault.

"Listen here, you pompous egomaniac…" Astrid growled in a menacing tone as she stalked up to him. "Our job wasn't to baby you, it was to protect the village. To fend off the dragons and keep everyone alive and safe. It was your job too, more so than anyone else's in fact, and you couldn't even be bothered to lift a finger to do it. And let me remind you, it was a lot more than just a FEW houses and SOME food!" By now she was right on top of Snotlout and had her axe drawn out, pointing it right at Snotlout's flabby neck. The oaf was sweating like an oversized ham left out in the sun on a warm summer day as he looked straight up. "The only thing we're at fault for is making the serious mistake of making you chief to begin with!"

Snotlout at that point could only pull a moderate attempt at a glare, but to the relief of everyone, kept his mouth shut for once. Astrid only drew her axe back and kept it at her side while Gobber hobbled up again.

"You've got plenty of time to save what little face yuv got now that Stoick's cleaning up after you, boy. Might be best ta start by showin' a little humility."

"Yeah, well you can just-"Snotlout started, but was interrupted by a loud, bellowing "ENOUGH!" The volume of the command was enough to spook a few birds from the trees at the edge of the forest ahead. They all turned to see an extremely annoyed Stoick staring back down at them, eyebrows furrowed down as low as they could go. Snotlout gulped at the sudden recollection that he had just insulted his son, in Stoick's presence. The man looked ready to beat him to a pulp, and every Viking on Berk knew a confrontation with Stoick the Vast was a losing one.

Stoick started pointing to the others. "No more of your tiresome bickering; we're here ta find my son! Deal with this idiot on yur own time!" He marched forward and stared them all down, surveying them quickly. "Now I want everyone ta split off into teams; twins, ya go together. Fishlegs, Gobber, Snotlout yur a team. And Astrid, I think ya've been trained well enough to take care of yerself."

Astrid nodded, her sense of duty easily overpowering the pride she'd felt that her chief recognized her battle skills. Yet a small amount of Viking showboating spirit let itself loose as she stylishly holstered her axe into the sheath on her back. She stood at attention like the perfectly trained soldier she was and awaited her chief's next command, as did the others, putting aside whatever childish nonsense they were dealing with just moments ago.

"Alright, everyone, spread out into groups and search! We'll meet back here in two hours ta report our findin's." Stoick ordered.

Tuffnut suddenly raised his hand like a student in school. "Sorry, I missed the part about what we do if we find Hiccup."

"When we find Hiccup," Stoick corrected loudly, staring directly at Tuffnut, his glare pressing directly onto the younger Viking like a boulder to the head. Tuffnut, in a rare, out-of-character moment, seemed to notice the gaze and let it sink into his soul. "When yu see him, do not let him get away. No mattar how much he kicks, screams, or begs, take 'im back here, drag him by his seat if yu hav' to!"

"Hah! That'd be pretty funny to see." Snotlout laughed, only to get whacked upside the head by Gobber. He rubbed his head and sent an annoyed glare towards the smith who returned it in kind.

"I want ma son back, I will take him home to turn him into the chief he is meant to be, that Berk was meant ta have," He glared at Snotlout at the last statement, not letting it slip that he was one of those many people Gobber mentioned that still carried anger towards him for his reckless stupidity and his single-handed ruination of their tribe. "And I will not hesitate ta do so!"

Stoick sounded so serious, so intent on finding his son, more driven than he was when the raids were still going on. And the fact that he had been so intent on finding the nest to the point of ignoring his own son spoke volumes of the drive he carried now. The look in his eyes made it clear he was ready to kill men just to find his son. And that worried Astrid; with this kind of attitude, she was sure that he was only going to succeed in scaring Hiccup into wanting to escape the moment he found him. He'd be once again responsible for driving his only son away, and it really looked like he wouldn't be able to tell. Like he said, he was willing to drag Hiccup kicking and screaming back to Berk if necessary. But despite what else he said, that was only _if_ he was even still alive.

"But what if he's not on this island?" Fishlegs asked nervously, raising his hand in nearly the same manner Tuffnut did, but only halfway.

"Then we sail to the next one and we keep searching," Stoick confirmed looking over to Fishlegs. "Now get moving!"

"But-"

"NOW!" Stoick shouted.

No one else needed any more prodding after that, once Stoick spoke in that tone, whatever subject was being discussed was officially closed to further discussion. They split off into their assigned groups and begun the search. Ruff and Tuff decided to search the entirety of the beach, but quickly had forgotten their duty in favor of smacking each other in the face with pieces of driftwood. Fishlegs, Gobber and Snotlout took the left side of the island, the smith more focused on keeping the Jorgenson dunce from killing Fishlegs for his previous comment; Fishlegs was really the only one focused on the search. Stoick took the right side of the island and searched the cliffs and bases of the nearby mountains, while Astrid went straight ahead into the thick, dark forest before her.

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><p>Astrid ran through the woods, her axe in her hand, almost running into low branches and tripping over roots extending from the ground along the path a number of times. She had to admit it had been a long while since she saw trees this fertile or green, the ones on Berk either chopped down or reduced to cinders. Right now though, she was a bit more annoyed by all this living plant life causing additional irritation and discomfort. Thistles had gotten stuck in the fur of her coat and boots and her hair was infested with leaves and needles, not to mention the dirt that covered her from top to bottom from falling so many times. She felt itchy all over and she was sweating like beads, and her muscles were starting to wear themselves out after walking in the forest for so long. Yet she could not care how many sticks she cracks or rocks she stumbled on, or even how dark the thick branches made the ground by blocking out the sun or anything in her path, she kept going forward. She would simply cut and whack away all obstacles that stood before her, not letting anything, certainly not a chaotic abundance of nature, impede her progress.<p>

"Hiccup?" She called out loudly, hoping he could hear her if he was here. "Hiccup, where are you?"

Astrid kept hoping to see Hiccup hiding in those woods with every time she turned her head to look in a new direction. All she could think about was finding the scrawny Viking and taking him home, receiving his forgiveness after a little talk and maybe… move on towards something more. She kept trying to picture how he had grown, trying to live of the land as he must have or taken in by another tribe and being nurtured in their care. He had always shown little progress in terms of growth in the years she had known him, always staying just shorter and skinner than others his age or even those a year or two younger like her. Even she looked to be as thin as he was, but opposed to him her feminine figure concealed great skill as a fighter. More than likely he would have remained the same as always – a sad truth, but as hard as she tried to imagine him as an adult, all she could picture was the same baby-cheeked weed of a boy he had always been. Though the many years of belief in his supposed death might have also played a role in that, freezing the image of his fourteen year-old self in her mind.

She became more and more concerned as time went on; the two hours since she first entered the forest that she was allotted to search for Hiccup had nearly expired and still she had found no trace of him. Not a single footprint, no pieces of cloth caught in the bushes, not even any signs of a campsite that he might have made for himself. Of course, it had been six years since she last saw him; what promise did they have that he was even on this island? It was possible that he had moved on long ago, taken on the life of a nomad and sailed off to some distant land.

And that brought her mind back to the ever-puzzling question that no one on Berk could solve of just how he had managed to escape in the first place without anyone noticing. No boats were missing, and Hiccup was too much of a weakling to gather the materials necessary to make one all by himself, even a simple rowboat. The only way he could just vanish without a trace or anyone finding out was if he had somehow sprouted wings and flown away, but that was impossible. Humans were not capable of flying, and the Vikings, at least, liked it that way; she could hardly imagine herself just flapping through the open air in the way creatures like birds or the infernal dragons did.

Then again, Hiccup was always a strange boy with even stranger hobbies and interests, and he did show suspicious behavior during dragon training. She remembered how angry she felt at him for not even having the decency to hang out with the people who were giving him what she considered to be undeserved respect in favor of going off for hours on end. On a couple of occasions she had spotted him going into the forest after training was done for the day with a large sack filled with… something. Perhaps it was the parts for some kind of flying machine, but everyone knew that any machine of Hiccup's was doomed to failure the second it was conceived. There was no way he could have successfully built such a piece of equipment… right?

Before she could even answer her question or decide to just give up and go back, she realized something.

It was quiet.

In every direction, she heard nothing but silence, too quiet for a normal forest, save for a few chirping birds. She was expecting to hear, maybe even see, a few wild dragons in those woods, even pick up on some small nests, remembering when her uncle took her to find the nests when she was a little girl. She always knew to keep in mind the signs of where a dragon marked their territory, claw or burn marks on the ground on the trees, but she could find nothing of the sort here. Astrid had to admit, it did make her a little jealous to see that this island seemed to have no dragons on it whatsoever, but she was more confused at that moment than anything else.

Astrid continued to walk ahead, calling out Hiccup's name, regaining her energy and starting to walk even faster through the woods. She didn't even use her axe anymore, just charged through the branches and bushes and letting more leaves and thistles stick into her. She was aware enough to hop and skip over rocks or logs now, but otherwise kept looking all around, demanding he come out of whatever hiding place he was in.

Faster and farther she walked until she reached the edge of the forest, the light coming towards her all at once. She raised her arm to block the strong light that blasted her eyes, squinting to try and get a clear view. Now that she was closer, she could hear the distinct sounds of cheering and laughing, the high-pitched tones of children and women and the loud, deep voice of men; it was clear this island was inhabited. Astrid finally cleared the trees and what she saw blew… her… mind.

It seemed that Astrid had come across a village, but it was unlike any village she had ever seen before, and certainly nothing like the Berk of recent. Whereas Berk was run down, burnt black, wrecked and seemed to exude a sense of death and ruin, this village was bursting with life and color, with houses and buildings of such unique design that stood multiple stories tall and objects unlike anything she had ever seen. Several adults were setting up banners and decorations, and preparing bucket loads of fish, with some parents hefting up their little ones on their shoulders and looking up to the sky. Windmills placed all over were blowing in the breeze, the fans shaped like dragon's wings. Children were laughing and playing around with their wings spread wide, some with toys in their hands and some in costumes that looked like dragons. It seemed this whole village had a sort of dragon theme going on, but unlike any other Viking village, it didn't seem to have to do with killing them. Most of the images she saw on the décor had much more pleasant and friendly images – in fact some banners that appeared to be painted by children showed them playing with dragons. It was enough to make her confused and disgusted all at once as she continued to stand there on the edge of the town.

But it was what she saw next that really left her shocked. There were dragons, actual dragons, in the village; there were Terrors and even a Gronkle chasing after the children. Another Gronkle and even a Monstrous Nightmare sleeping next to the houses in what appeared to be barns made specifically for them. She turned her attention back to the children and was ready to charge in with her axe and chop the dragons' wings and heads off to save the children. Her hand was stopped immediately though by their continued laughter – that wasn't right, she thought. Children aren't supposed to laugh when they were being chased by dragons, they were supposed to scream in terror. And the adults didn't seem to even care – in fact she saw that other dragons like Zipplebacks, Nadders, and Nightmares were helping them out. What kind of insane place was this, for dragons to help out Vikings, and for Vikings not to kill dragons, instead letting them run wild?

But she then took note on each of the dragons' faces, and saw an expression she had never seen before, due to the fact that dragons didn't have hearts and therefore couldn't feel emotions. All of the dragons looked happy, playful, their pupils being round black orbs instead of the usual menacing slits that displayed their intent to kill to the world. They seemed tame and peaceful, but she knew it was a lie, it had to be. Dragons were evil, they destroyed her village and ruined the world with their existence – they shouldn't even be allowed to live.

She was ready to charge in and kill every last dragon there, or at least remind all these… idiots of what they should be doing, when a large horn sounded off in the distance. She heard the sound of wing beats coming forth, obviously from another dragon, and looked to the sky. And once again, her mind was completely blown, her jaw feeling like it snapped loose and literally dropped to the ground.

A large man, about as large as Stoick, with a combed and braided black beard and a fine robe lined in fur came in, with boots and metal gauntlets that shone like new. His appearance was highly regal, almost like a king from the Roman Empire. It was clear this man was some kind of chief from the way everyone looked to him with awe and respect, everyone – man and dragon – crowding up along the streets to see him. The surprising thing though was the creature he sat upon – this man was riding a dragon! The beast was a pale blue with crimson red tipping its horns, covered in a hard shell-like armor like a beetle's, and a clubbed tail waving out in the air. Astrid had never seen a dragon like it before, but it was clear this dragon was a powerful one, a juggernaut among the beasts. A fitting pair, the dragon and its rider made, clearly a force to be reckoned with.

"People of Draak!" The man called out to the citizens below, snapping Astrid herself to attention. "A fine job you have all done preparing for this, one of our most revered holidays. Six short years have passed since this tradition began, and it fills me with joy to see the spirit born then carried on to this day. And of course, this is only the beginning of what will surely be a day that will be remembered for generations to come!" The people and dragons gathered roared and thundered in cheers that could be heard an ocean's length away. Astrid had to actually plug her ears: as much as she was used to loud cheers and shouts from Vikings, throw in the dragons and it would be enough to pop an eardrum.

At the same time, she was left utterly confused by the man's statement and the mention of the passage of time – six years. That was how long Hiccup had been gone, and how long Berk had gone without raids from dragons; she had to wonder if she was witnessing the reason why, here and now. Yes, something happened here six years ago that brought men and dragons together in harmony. But what?

"But good things come to those who wait and now all of your hard work and waiting has paid off. The moment you have all been waiting for has come. Let us now commence the celebration – let the Sky Parade begin!"

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><p><strong>And that's it for this chapter, the big kick-off for the celebration! Next chapter is when the party gets into full swing – consider it like the Viking version of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.<strong>

**Bonus points to those of you that can name the dragon Hairke now has! Shouldn't be that hard if you know your dragons!**

**As always, review, favorite, follow! Till next time!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Okay, new chapter at last! Let me tell you, I've had people crying and insulting me for not getting this up sooner, so I figured I might as well post it before I'm threatened.**

**It's not my best work; really, I don't know if I'm all that proud, but it gets the point across. This is basically like the latest chapter of my other fic, Dragon's Hero (I got a complaint that the dream was prolonged a bit). The dream was the main focal point of the chapter there, just as the parade is for this chapter. This here is partly to give Astrid an insight on the war and see how good the citizens of Draak have got it. It's also here to explain just what kind of dragons everybody got, since they all said they wanted to get dragons of their own. I provided a little insight on each of the new dragons, so I hope that goes over well.**

**This chapter is mostly action, so try to picture this in your head as you go along. It'll probably go over much better. Again, not my best work, at least I don't think it is – I've had schoolwork and finals to deal with so forgive me if it seems like it's not at my usual level of quality. Enjoy!**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>Astrid had to shake her head and clean the wax out of her ears with her finger to see if she heard the man on the dragon right. Did he say 'Sky Parade?' As in some kind of celebration up in the air? She had to wonder just how it would be possible to do such a thing before she looked up again and saw that the answer had already been provided. She grimaced in disgust and had to literally resist the urge to vomit at the whole thing, breathing out her fury through gritted teeth. The idea of people riding dragons, riding those vile monsters and thinking of them as pets or noble steeds; it was a crime against nature itself. And here she was, on an island that was presumably full of them.<p>

From the very beginning, Astrid had been taught by the example of her parents and her chief that peace could only come at the sharp end of a blade. Taught, inbred with hatred ever since she was a child, but as an adult she could see the world clearly, no longer needing the detestation her elders provided. She knew full well dragons were the enemies and that only one side or the other was going to come out standing at the end of the war, whenever that end may have been.

Even after the raids had mysteriously stopped six years ago, she and the wiser Vikings like Stoick and Gobber still kept their guard up. They still launched attacks against any dragon that flew over their island, even if for some reason they only came one at a time. In fact in recent times they had resorted to killing the dragons for extra meat since the animals they usually used had gotten sick. But that was the only good the dragons brought, the only good dragons were dead ones.

Even as she was witnessing clear proof of the opposite of everything she had believed in, it only provided more questions than answers. It was evident the dragons had either come here to this dragon-friendly island all that time ago; that or they moved to other, uninhabited islands. This place seemed to be only slightly larger than Berk, there was no way all the dragons could fit on this one island. But why did this island have an apparent 'no-killing-dragons' policy, what could have brought them to adopt it? Didn't they lose hardly-attained food and loved ones to the demons as well? Her fists clenched in anger at how these people wished to spit and dance on those innocent people's graves, how they could so easily dishonor so many good, brave warriors and children that passed on much too soon. It was nothing short of the greatest insult possible to men that gave their lives to protect their homes and their families, she figured.

And that was to say nothing of how she assumed Stoick would react upon seeing this, the compassion towards the monsters who took his wife, and possibly his son. These idiots were dooming themselves to oblivion; whether that was by punishment by the virtuous like the men of Berk or eventual deception at the hands of these creatures remained to be seen. All she knew is that she wouldn't want to be one of these people if Stoick came around and saw all this nonsense.

Still, she had to admit she was a bit impressed at how the mindless beasts could be controlled and act so tamely in response to their human masters. For all her rage at the insanity of these people's feelings and ideals with dragons, another side of her was arguing how amazing it was that they could even be controlled at all. Taking a good look at all the houses once more, she could easily identify that they had taken a long time to build, or perhaps not as long if they had dragons help with that too. They were clearly not like the buildings of Berk were, just the simple angular huts that could be compared with simple shacks or sheds. There was true artistry in the architecture, and the size, stories, and bright coloration they all had proved the lack of need to rebuild just to have an acceptable living space. Astrid may have loathed dragons and anyone who sympathized with them, but she wasn't stupid. This village itself provided a good example of the benefits of having dragons around.

Astrid was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a voice sound right next to her, a woman's from the sound of it. It called out to grab her attention with a soft-toned "Hello?"

She turned around and saw a Viking woman that looked to be around her 30s, dressed in common female attire, a cloth dress and iron armor for her breasts. She wasn't too plump as some of the women in her village were, but she didn't exactly sport the same slim figure young women like Astrid did. She had a warm smile that spoke of welcoming, and she held the hand of a small, red-haired boy with her own to signify she was a mother.

Astrid shook her head gain to dispel her internal conflict for the moment. "Uh, I'm sorry, what?"

"So you weren't listening?" The woman asked with a smile. She chucked and shook her head while closing her eyes. "I asked if you were visiting from another island? I haven't really seen you around before."

Astrid managed to remain calm but deep inside she was panicking at how quickly she had been caught and what might happen to her. This was a tribe that showed goodwill towards dragons and she herself was certainly no dragon lover. In fact she had already killed a dragon, the Nightmare that Hiccup was meant to before he disappeared; being the runner-up had entitled her to the honor of killing her first dragon and earning her place as a warrior of Berk in front of the whole village. Though it was only a default victory, it was still one of the proudest moments of her life, though now, in this situation it only caused her trouble. She could only dread how she might be imprisoned or executed for her 'crimes,' and how it would impede the search for their missing heir.

She swallowed down her fear with a small gulp, too small for the woman to see and suspect she might have been hiding something. Astrid figured in this situation it would be best to play it safe and not make any suggestive moves. She faked a polite smile to mirror the woman's, even if she could feel her cheekbones crack at the strain. "Um, yeah. Just visiting. I was… uh… instructed to come here as a gesture of goodwill on behalf of my chief."

"Really?" Asked the woman. "I didn't think word had gotten out that we'd made peace with the dragons; we've mostly kept to ourselves about it, you know. So what tribe are you from?"

Astrid could believe the woman's claim; she certainly agreed that at least one other island would have heard of a tribe making peace with the dragons. Given this place's distance from the rest of the archipelago, it made sense, but there should have at least been rumors flying around like those of the Dragon Conqueror. She had to repeat the phrase in her head though, just to even try to comprehend it: 'made peace with the dragons.' Looking at the woman Astrid realized that she was taking too long to answer and that was probably making her look suspicious. So she responded with the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm from… the…" Her eyes darted around for a good idea for a tribe name, not wanting to give away any real tribe and put them in some precarious position with the people here. Her sight landed on a red banner hanging on a pole. "Redwood Tribe."

"Redwood… hmm… can't say I've heard of it." The woman stated with a look of thought while her child looked up to her. Astrid could feel a drop of sweat fall down her elvish face, yet still retained a relatively natural expression. Inwardly, though, she cursed herself for anything that might have given her lie away. In humor though, at least she looked less obvious than Hiccup would have.

"Well, I suppose you're pretty far off the map like we are. Not too many people have heard of Draak either." She smiled again, and Astrid exhaled in relief through her nostrils.

Astrid turned back around to the sky where she could see a large flock of Terrible Terrors flying in careful formation to an overture played out by a band of musicians that stood on a large wooden stage. It started out slow and soft, joyful and sweet but soon picked up to an upbeat tune, strong with vitality and reflected the spirit of adventure and daring only Vikings had. The tempo came in the combination of jingling, high-pitched bells and taut leather drums that beat like fists crashing through stone or waves against the shore in natural rhythm. The plangent yet gentle and fluctuating notes played upon the bone and woodwind flutes and the harp carried on the warm breeze and soothed the ears, balanced by the gentle flights of the performing dragons. Their tune played to counteract and synchronize with the powerful horns that blew with force enough to match Thor's mighty thunder itself.

The Terrors flew in organized rows according to their body color, purples with purples, greens with greens, reds with reds and so on. They shuffled back and forth in the sky, crossing and passing each other and with a puff of their fires, swerved back to pass again. It reminded the watchers of celebrations in the past when they would jig with their partners, swinging round and round by their hooked arms and switching to twirl in both directions.

Certain groups of the little dragons leaped forward with little banners tied to their feet, and would spin, curl, swing and loop in place, going backwards or sideways with the cloths following their every move. It appeared as a dance in the sky, the way they moved in tandem with the music, or perhaps it was the music that played as such with them. Either way, melody and movement reflected each other perfectly in rehearsed yet natural harmony. They moved aside to make room for the others to come in two by two and split out with easy turns towards different sections of the sky.

The miniature dragons then joined together in large groups according to their color and flew out in single file lines at different altitudes, reds and oranges at the top, greens in the middle, and purples at the bottom. They traveled in these lines, curving, ascending and undulating over the multiple houses and the people; the gathered again with their rows one on top of the other and spun around, creating large hoops of flying Terrors in the sky. Those of other colors like yellow and blue flew up and down through the living hoops while twirling in tandem with each other in groups of three or four. The would come out at the bottom and duck under the others before flying back up and swirling around themselves before letting out their puffy embers of flame.

The mass of other Terrors broke their close proximity to the rings below and widened out one row by one like ripples in the water. Astrid was gaping in pure disbelief at the sheer organization the Terrors displayed, not believing the little fire-breathing gnats capable of such a thing. Only human intervention could have instilled it in the idiotic creatures, and it was no doubt the result of long weeks or months of practice, yet she still found it to be next to impossible. Her head turned around to see the woman with a smile of amusement clear on her face, having found humor in her dumbfounded reaction as if she had seen it before.

Astrid shook her head to regain her composure and turned to face the woman. "Err, so tell me about this 'Sky Parade;' what's it all about?"

The woman's smile returned to normal and faced Astrid fully. "Ah, well it all started about six years ago, when the Viking-dragon wars were ended. A brave young lad had found the nest and-."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what!?" Astrid interrupted out of pure shock. "Did you say a boy found the nest? How could a boy do what even the chiefs of the archipelago couldn't?"

"Ah, well, You see-"

"He was riding a dragon, a Night Fury!" The woman was cut off once again, this time by her child's loud, unexpected comment. She just looked down and eyed him with a stern look for interrupting her, and he bowed his head down in apology.

Astrid, in the meantime, was flabbergasted all over again at the mention of the Night Fury, the fiendish monster born from within the depths of Hel. According to her memory, only one man could control such a mighty creature, as told in the stories of sailors and traders that passed by their shores. That legendary figure, spoken of in small rumor at first spreading from island to the next by one person to the next. That someone, as the woman said, had only been a boy, who by all logic should have been blasted to smithereens or at least have had his arm bitten off by the beast the second he even tried to approach it.

If it was indeed the Dragon Conqueror who had appeared all those years ago on this island, then that would probably put him at around the same age as her and the others. Still though, it sent shivers down her soul; though only on the cusp of adulthood, it did not make his power to command the dragons any less real. Plus the fact that he had been able to single-handedly find and take the nest with one dragon alone suggested that he was indeed as fearsomely powerful as the legends suggested.

"Right, well, yes: he did indeed ride a Night Fury." The woman continued, oblivious of Astrid's astonishment. "Together they found the nest and inside they found a dragon unlike any ever seen before. A monster whose sized matched the mountain it hid itself within. This dragon dominated the others and forced them to steal food for her, lest they be devoured themselves."

Yet again, her mind reeled over in response to this new information she had been given. If what this woman was saying was true, that this supposed dragon tyrant made the dragons feed her, than it explained everything. It gave reason to what had been for centuries seen as petty theft taken to the extreme with the loss of innocent lives.

Yet it was still because of that loss that she could not bring herself to believe that dragons were good; no, they were evil, they killed and brought ruin wherever they went. And they did it only to preserve themselves, her long-standing hate reasoned for her, twisting the facts in order to keep her from snapping at the revelation that everything she knew was a fallacy. She could not believe it, her pride wouldn't allow it for the sake of her sanity, that her entire culture was mistaken and they had been spilling blood needlessly. Maybe the dragons weren't mindless, if what this woman was saying was true; they were just ridiculously selfish, others – humans – deserving life far more than them.

"The boy and his Night Fury challenged the great beast and killed it, stopping the wars forever. Today is the anniversary of that day, and we celebrate it with a great performance by the dragons and their riders in commemoration of the pair that gave us our long-awaited peace. The 'Sky Parade.'" The woman finished.

Astrid just stared in awe and shock as the woman ended her tale, blinking to clear her stupor. "Forgive me, mam, but I find it a bit hard to believe all of that's true."

"Yes, I suppose it does seem quite unbelievable, especially to those who've spent their lives fighting dragons. We've mostly kept to ourselves because of that, knowing our new policies would not be accepted." The woman said, losing her smile, but soon turned to her with a slightly hardened expression. "But answer me this, lass, the world's been fightin' a 300 year war; how long would you have been willin' to keep that fight goin'? How many more lives would have to be lost because people didn't care to notice that nothing was getting done?"

Astrid wondered for a moment if the woman had seen through her lies and realized that she still fought dragons, at least whenever they reared their ugly heads around Berk. She wanted to scream that she was ready to fight as long as it took, until every last one of those fire-breathing helspawn were annihilated. But she figured on an island, in a crowd full of dragon lovers, dragon _riders_, she would be sorely outnumbered and be given harsh punishment. Besides that, she wasn't really sure if she could muster a proper response to the question. There was a time when she would have been willing to lay down her life to protect her island – she still would. But what would be the point if her death was just one of thousands of others, for her and her friends to just be faceless soldiers whose efforts and sacrifices would have counted for nothing? How long would it have taken, and how many lives would it cost before the war was won?

"Peace only comes from understanding; that was what that boy taught us. We must be willing to look past appearance, and history, if we ever expect things to change." The woman said, and walked off, leaving Astrid to her thoughts.

The parade continued on in full swing, starting with the Nadders led by Ot and his Nadder Blueskin. The dragons flew together in a perfect V-formation, soaring across the houses and screeching happily together. Ot was grinning from ear to ear, waving down at the ground, even pumping and swinging his fist in the air like a maniac to pump up the mood. The two Nadders on each side of Ot and Blueskin banked off and looped away, leaving the pair alone to swing in low, Blueskin's talons nearly touching the ground, and catch a few fish tossed up from the crowd.

The children loved to grab a fish from their houses or the dispensers and toss it up for the dragons to catch. It made for some exciting, improvised stunts that the villagers thought really added a little extra spice to the performance. Blueskin spun and flew upside down to catch a fish that was just descending down from the tip of its throw. He was coming up on it fast, and the fish landed right in the roof of his mouth and promptly swallowed as he returned right-side up. Blueskin spun and rose up to catch another fish tossed up and licked his mouth in delight before fling back up to where the other Nadders surrounded them.

Ot hopped up to stand on his dragon's saddle while the other Nadders bared the quills on their tails for launch. Astrid, who was watching from below, wanted to scream to the guy to get out of the way, and could not understand for the life of her why the man was acting so calm about it. There he was standing with his hands behind his back, grinning smugly while the Nadders locked on to their target. The first Nadder to the top left unleashed its quills, and Astrid and the rest of the audience just gasped in unison.

But both dragon and rider were more than prepared; Ot leaped up while Blueskin spun around and launched his quills to counteract the quills fired by the other Nadder. Each lethal projectile from both of the dragons collided on point with one another on point, bouncing back and twirling in the air like boomerangs back to their origin. Ot managed to catch three of the quills that were returned, and to Astrid's shock and amazement, began to juggle them. The crowd laughed and cheered at Ot's unexpected stunt, amused at how he loved to keep people in suspense with these dangerous routines of his.

The other Nadders launched their quills, only for the same result to repeat itself again and again; it never ceased to lose its luster, though, as Ot managed to leap in the air while still juggling the quills he had already caught. His total increased each time, from three to six, to nine, and finally to twelve quills altogether. He never lost the beat on any catch, just tossing the quills up and adding the new ones to his collection like nothing had happened. For a real crowd-pleaser, he started walking back and forth on Blueskin's back, even pretending to wobble and lose his balance. Astrid was the only one down among the spectators not laughing at the show.

Ot stopped juggling after a while and started to throw the quills back at their owners, spinning around and firing them one by one. The Nadders counteracted with short blasts of fire that blew up the quills, causing fiery pieces to rain down below. The crowd roared once more while Ot hopped back into his saddle and flew off with the Nadders following suit and catching more fish for themselves.

After the Nadders left, the Gronkles came; sadly there wasn't much to see since their tiny wings combined with their large bodies didn't allow for much aerial maneuvering. They just slowly passed by, their greatest appeal coming when they dropped down to give some kids a big sloppy lick. To most people's surprise, despite their tough exterior, the Gronkles were some of the most lovable and huggable dragons there were. Seeing the admittedly cute looks on the Gronkles faces was always great fun for the younger crowd; that was for sure.

In stark contrast, the next group of dragons was something fierce - the Monstrous Nightmares came flying in soon after the Gronkles left in literal blazing glory, their bodies completely alighted on fire. Astrid was reminded of her fight against the Nightmare and how she had barely survived against it, especially when it employed that ability. It had to be one of the most dangerous fights of her entire life. Yet astonishingly enough, it didn't seem to faze the rider on the head Nightmare at all; instead the man only looked confident, even smug. He had an ironclad grip on the reins on the saddle, and pulled them back to signal to his dragon to stop. The Nightmare did so, and fired a powerful beat from his wings, the other Nightmares following suit, and all had snuffed out their flames by the time they did. The remaining flames were caught by the wind, igniting it and creating a cloud of flame that blew out and cooked all the fish tossed up in an instant. The Nightmares swooped down and caught them all – even the rider had managed to snag one and took a sharp bite out of it before returning to the sky.

It was Ruoy, the temperamental boy who had tried to upstage and/or debase Hiccup at every turn six years ago. He had been one of the last few to accept getting a dragon of his own, only giving in when he aw that he was quickly being left in the minority. The Nightmare he rode was named King, a proud, battle-scarred, dark-red Nightmare who had been through many fights in his life. Ruoy had named him as such due to a long standing belief that Nightmares were a superior breed to most others, not like he wasn't wrong, and King, being a veteran dragon, was a mighty specimen even among his own.

Like Ruoy he had an appetite for combat and was always ready to take on other dragons in sparring matches to keep his claws and instincts sharp, but in stark contrast to both his rider and his species, King knew how to keep his cool in a fight. King could be calm and composed both on and off the battlefield, and always wished his rider could be the same and not just shout at people for whatever reason. Still, the two respected each other for their skill and prowess, even if King figured Ruoy could use a little more real-world experience.

Because riding Nightmares could be a pretty heated business, Ruoy and other riders of Stoker-class dragons had to wear mostly leather and metal armor, items that for the most part weren't flammable. Even their saddles had to become mostly flame-resistant, lined with leather on the bottom and back so as to make it comfortable for the dragons, though it meant the ability could not be used for very long.

Ruoy's own armor was composed of a leather vest over a simple shirt with leather boots plated with metal; the only fur he had on him was underneath spiked metal pauldrons much like Astrid's own. It proved to be highly effective as the material failed to catch fire even once, though even with the proper material Astrid must have figured it took a lot of guts to ride a flaming dragon like that.

The other Nightmares flew off in front of Ruoy and King and started to seemingly go crazy in the air, flying around and unleashing their fire streams at full power. They swirled and orbited around with streams several times longer than normal, making full use of the kerosene inside of them and creating a frenzy of flames, turning the sky dark in comparison, lighting the roofs of the houses with a hellish orange. Some members of the audience had to move away in fear of the fire catching onto their clothes. To Astrid it was a dark reminder of the raids and how every building on Berk would be set on fire each and every night while people would be running scared, seeking whatever shelter they could. She imagined all the screams of pain and horror as houses and even people were lit on fire, never ceasing in her head even after it was over and she and the others had long since put those fires out.

The Nightmares together had created an apparent sphere of flame in the sky, and Ruoy and King, much to everyone's shock, dove right into it. Astrid wondered if everyone on this island seemed to have a death wish, but inside she could see the rider's mastery at work. Ruoy and King weaved, ducked and rolled through every last fire stream, so close people could swear he had gotten a singe or two in the midst of it. Before long, they disappeared into the center of the now closing fire, the Nightmares' blasts coming in closer and closer, until the last second when King shot up and zoomed forward.

Ruoy was giving a hearty cheer when he noticed that some of the fur on his shoulder had caught fire. The audience laughed had he yelped and quickly tried to put it out, King and the other Nightmares just flying away to make room for the next act. The children remained blissfully unaware of Ruoy's furious swearing fading off into the distance, to the relief of the parents.

Then came the Zippleback display, and once again the crowd was floored at the sight, especially Astrid; they saw the way the Zipplebacks roared and wheeled around after creating a cloud of gas to hide themselves. They showed up at one moment and then disappeared into the gas once more. With a large explosion, the Zipplebacks came out, gaining altitude slightly so they could roll back down as flaming wheels. They zoomed off with another round of cheers to bid them farewell for the next act.

With a booming cry came a breed that Astrid never thought she would ever see in her life – a group of Thunderdrums came swinging in, again with the lead one having a rider. The Thunderdrums, true to their Tidal Class nature, were flapping their wings slowly and bobbing up and down, appearing to be swimming in midair. They glided down low enough to let a bold few rub their bellies and feed them some more fish.

The head rider was Niart, Ruoy's former lackey, riding atop his new teal-colored Thunderdrum, named Boomer. At first glance to the Draakians it seemed to be a total mismatch when Niart was paired with Boomer, failing to imagine how it could work between such a shy boy and a dragon knowing for its uproarious power. Looking back, it was actually Boomer that chose Niart to be his partner, seeing that the boy desperately needed a few lessons in confidence. Boomer was a dragon that knew what he wanted and wasn't afraid to get it himself – he was outgoing, assertive, practically everything Niart wasn't. But Boomer was also a dragon that enjoyed a project, and people figured that played a big role in it; opposites attract, as the saying went.

The Thunderdrums continued to glide carefully, waving their wings with gentle grace. They gathered at the center and started to ring around each other with the tips of their right wings all touching each other. They broke apart after a few rotations and just hovered in the air, Niart enjoying the soft, easy pace of their routine.

Sadly, he was the only one who was – the crowd below was starting to get a little bored and some even started complaining for them to hurry up and get to the good part. Niart was starting to panic a little: he had planned a nice, easy display with nothing fance, but had forgotten that laid-back finesse didn't sit well with rambunctious, action-craving Vikings. So Boomer, sensing his rider's distress and admittedly feeling just as bored, decided to take matters into his own claws.

Boomer started bucking around in the air like a wild horse, lashing his tail and keeping Niart holding onto the saddle for dear life. The other Thunderdrums looked to each other slightly confused, remembering the rehearsed flight they had practiced with Niart and Boomer beforehand, but followed along anyway, and soon the sky was littered with out of control Thunderdrums. People were now laughing their heads off at the dragons' behavior, while Astrid looked as scared as the Thunderdrum rider seemed to be. He was begging for his dragon to stop, feeling like he was about to throw up, but the Thunderdrum kept bucking on.

Boomer then called orders to each of the other dragons, and they all took off for one of the island's many reservoirs, scooping up a large mouthful of water and carrying it in their jaws. As soon as they filled up they headed back, each one pointing straight up and upchucking into the air all the gallons of water they had drank. Each one then unleashed their sonic roars which collided with the shots of water and caused them to burst out in large showers of water that rained down to the audience; the children screamed merrily and danced around to try and catch the water in their mouths when it came down onto them. The onlookers then ooed and awed when rainbows had appeared suddenly to reflect the light off of the water falling, and clapped in approval of the unexpected display. Niart, who had finally calmed down and gotten control once more, gave Boomer a satisfactory pat on the head as they took off to make room for the next group.

Astrid wasn't sure how much more of this 'Sky Parade' she could take, nearly ready to keel over with each and every act so far, but what she saw next was enough to make her eyeballs pop out of her skull. There, coming from the nearby hill, a girl was waving to the crowd sitting sidesaddle on nothing but thin air! She was levitating, coming straight forward, with no dragons anywhere in sight; Astrid was ready to call witchcraft when finally the girl's dragon appeared from underneath her. A red-violet Changewing, a dragon that could blend perfectly into its surroundings. The audience gasped in delighted surprise – even they had been fooled!

Woh came in smoothly riding atop her Changewing Violet, leading the other Changewings in a straight line. Violet was a tenderhearted dragon that made full use of her extra tentacles, knowing how to multitask and help Woh with several different duties at once. Which helped because outside of taking care of children while their parents were out working on their off hours, the two helped out mostly at the healers' huts, assisting both humans and dragons in first aid and medicine.

Woh grasped on to Violet's saddle while she and the other Changewings blended in and hid away again, snaking their way up several of the totem poles around the village. They went around and around, coiling to the very top, landing and launching into the air again one by one. They continued on single file, then splitting up into an alignment resembling a star, orbiting around Woh and Violet, quickly shooting off and vanishing giving no indication to where they had landed. Violet flew off above multiple houses, a Changewing hiding on the roof of each one appearing out of nowhere and rejoining the line. All four were quickly found and the group filed off after yet another hearty round of applause.

For the next performance the ground rumbled and shook, earth lines appearing all throughout the landscape of the island. They appeared right in front of the audience and trailed off into the distance moments later, heading for a small plateau to the side. From underneath a multitude of dragons flew out, spraying like water from what seemed to be a large opening underneath the edge. The dragons were Whispering Deaths, and like the other acts, the lead one had a rider of its own.

The rider was Nogard, the loner, riding atop his Whispering Death, Shadespine and waving a salutations to the audience. Nogard was attracted to Shadespine because the dragon really did have the solitary, quiet personality he loved to emulate. His rider considered him cool, but to others Shadespine could be pretty moody, preferring to eat on his own as opposed to other dragons who preferred to eat together, and only wanted to fly when he was sure other dragons weren't occupying the airspace. He was also pretty gloomy, acting indifferent to most requests other people or dragons gave him – in fact Shadespine was quite the silent creature and hardly ever even roared or growled. But like any dragon Shadespine was fiercely loyal to his rider; he would always stay close to Nogard, would listen to everything he said, and was ready to protect him in an instant. It was just that people could never be sure when that instant would be, the dragon had a tendency to react when others least expected it.

This time, though, that clearly wasn't the case; Shadespine and the other Whispering Deaths were following Nogard's orders to the letter. They all flew together in-line opening their drill-like jaws and rotating them, firing their flaming ring blasts, then speeding right through the rows of obstacles they had created for themselves. On the last ring they all looped in the air, then dived down below to the ground. They leveled off at the last second and wormed all around the village, slowly moving past each of the houses and barns, slithering like oversized snakes. They not only moved around the buildings but also atop and over the roofs, just barely graving over the tops so that the spikes on their underbellies were a centimeter away, leaving the houses untouched.

Just as they converged in the same spot just in front of the villagers, they all split apart again, grabbing fairly large-sized rocks with their tails and whiplashing them into the air. They snagged them into their jaws and let their rows of teeth completely disintegrate the rocks, spitting out small pieces of crystal that had been imbedded deep inside. The crystal sparkled and shimmered like a soft rain of stars when the light touched it and small pieces had landed in the hands of certain individuals. The Whispering Deaths all came together and formed a large flapping drill of bodies, spiraling in conjunction with one another and once again firing their blasts ahead. They charged through the rings in one final sprint, each one swiftly and perfectly passing through a ring in mid rotation, letting the sparks bounce of their scales, and moved ahead, their performance over.

Astrid was quickly getting annoyed now; these people were content on just watching these accursed beasts acting like trained sideshow pets when they should have been killing them. That woman had obviously feeding her lies – there was no way she could believe a tale so ludicrous. She couldn't even believe the stories when they had been told on Berk, about the mighty dragon master who bended the loathsome creatures to his will with just a snap of the fingers. She had always thought either he was some reject exiled from his tribe for his madness or just didn't exist at all. Astrid had heard the stories of the Dragon Conqueror from Gobber after all, and the smith, as lovable as he was, was quite infamous around Berk for his tall tales.

Now she had just about heard it all, the Dragon Conqueror apparently being some saintly promoter of peace encouraging positive relationships between humans and dragons. If he was real, she had no doubt her former theory was true – that he was some crazed lunatic who sought to bathe the world in fire to display his power or simply to look at the flames. He rode the unholy offspring of lightning and death and she was supposed to believe that he wanted humans and dragons to get along?

She was watching scores of other dragons fly ahead, all with riders, flying in simple formations of straight lines and only banking or turning at seldom times. IT was a stark opposite to the previous performances where there was only one rider and the dragons were all giving aerial displays. Most of the riders were much younger than the others, Astrid placing them all at about 15 or 16 years of age, and all looked to be having the time of their lives. At the head of the line was yet another dragon she never expected to see: a Timberjack, flapping with its massive wings and casting a looming shadow over the crowd. On its back was a young woman with an enlarged belly, obviously a pregnant woman, waving softly to the crowd and gesturing back to the other riders, trying to direct people's attention to them.

Astrid could hear a man happily exclaim from the onlookers" "Hey, it's the new graduates from the Dragon Academy!"

She gaped over the thought; now there were dragon academies? People wasted their time learning about dragons and how to fly them? It was one thing to learn about their shot limits and their weaknesses; the only useful information regarding dragons, she thought, was information that helped in killing them. Fishlegs was pretty knowledgeable about dragons, but his constant spouting of statistics could get pretty grating on the nerves, especially when no one understood any of those numbers he spouted. Still, she could hear the comments from the others, ecstatic over seeing the riders fly by.

"They've gotten pretty good at handlin' their dragons!"

"The Headmaster must be so proud!"

"Are you going to enroll your child next year?"

"Oh, he and I will be entering together!"

She had seen and heard enough of these fools having fun with their nonsense. Dragon riding, dragon academies, dragon parades, dragon this and that. If these people wanted to worship those monsters, fine, but she didn't have to stand here and watch it all with the contents of her stomach churning. She still had to find Hiccup – he was out there somewhere, probably at the mercy of one of these dragons the idiots here seemed to love so much. She was just about to turn back to the forest and meet up with Stoick and the others at the boat when she heard it.

A roar that could turn blood to ice, that could freeze bodies dead in their tracks by chilling them to the bone. A roar that was sentence to any who were doomed to hear it, warning them to abandon all hope of survival. That roar was the sound of death to humanity, belonging to the reaper who had taken winged reptilian form, its scales as black as its soul.

A Night Fury.

Astrid turned back around, and there she saw it – the accused devil among devils that had for centuries remained invisible. The invisible executioner with precision, speed, and accuracy that no other creature alive could ever hope to match, striking down their defenses with a single blast. There it was, its black body in stark contrast with the bright daylight surrounding it, its massive wings spread wide. Its bright green eyes, however, were the exact opposite of what she expected, going against everything she heard. Its pupils were large and round, looking excited – even playful – as it gazed forward, keeping its sights locked on the path ahead.

What struck Astrid as odd was the amount of rigging placed on the dragon, numerous belts and cables attached to its body. Most of them ran back to its tail, and there she noticed that one fin didn't match the other, this one being a bright red with a white skull painted upon it. With a gasp she realized it was a prosthetic tailfin – a fake to compensate for the real one that had been lost in some manner of accident. But if the Night Fury was here, then where was.

Astrid then heard quick footsteps on wood, someone running, and looked to a nearby house where the sound was coming from. Granted she had seen many unbelievable things today, what with dragon riders, a parade, and the Night Fury itself. But what she saw next left her ready to faint, and Astrid Hofferson never, NEVER, fainted. Running on the rooftops with incredible speed, was a man wearing pitch-black, lightweight leather armor, his face concealed by a spiked leather mask, keeping his identity hidden from the onlookers.

"It's him…" she whispered in pure shock. "The Dragon Conqueror."

Every story was truth, every legend regarding that man who flew throughout the islands freeing dragons in captivity or rescuing from the clutches of Vikings. The man who had the ability to soar in the air on dragon's wings and used it to bring undeserved justice to the reptilian demons. He was as real as the dragons themselves, moving along with his own, the most dangerous dragon of all. Astrid wasn't sure whether to be awestruck or scared at the revelation; either way, she was left completely breathless. Any intention of leaving was left completely forgotten, her legs remained completely frozen in place, just gazing with her own two eyes at the man she mere seconds ago thought to be mere myth.

The armored man was running side by side with his dragon, the Night Fury slowing his pace somewhat to allow the man to keep up with it. The man held out his wrists and ejected cables from beneath to latch on to the buildings and swing across the large gaps between the houses by recoiling the cables. As soon as he landed on a new house a cross from him, he would vault off the tops and flip towards an adjacent one. This process continued again over and over, the rider jumping from house to house in rows and using his cables to jump to a row across or to another building farther off, such as the forge or their Great Hall. In some cases, he landed on chimneys or the poles of the totems or those where the banners were held, somehow perfectly keeping his balance as he carried himself off again. He landed successfully on one more rooftop without missing a beat and launched his cables again towards a barn, twirling in the air like a trained acrobat.

The Night Fury was doing much of the same, pouncing off of the roofs with feline grace once he came in low and cast open his wings to catch the air. Because of its tailfin, it was all the beast could do to glide, though he was granted some control when he tucked in his wings to varying degrees. It was able to make the most of its ability and still give an impressive performance by circling around in the air and teetering in tandem with its master, going left when he was on the right and vice versa.

To Astrid, it was a performance unlike any of the others she had seen before, completely spellbound by the movements of dragon and rider. It was clear, even to her inexperienced eyes in terms of the art that these two were in a class of their own when compared to the other riders. Sure, the previous riders were good, but the level of skill that these two possessed was beyond description, unmatched by any other on this island. The two were masters of flight, born of the sky and belonging completely in that realm – their passion for it spoke with every movement they made, every jump towards the open air.

The man swung around the barn and launched himself into the air just as the Night Fury leaped off of another house. With incredible pinpoint accuracy, the rider landed squarely on the dragon's back, hopping into the saddle and adjusting the tailfin to allow the dragon free flight. With the pull of a level and the click of a stirrup the dragon took to the air again, nimbly dodging each of the houses with barrel rolls and quick flaps to higher altitudes. The two immediately ascended to the air once again like a shot, going so high up that no one could see them anymore. For a moment the people gazed at nothing but open air, yet their eyes were still locked on the place where the rider and dragon vanished into the clouds, waiting for their return.

And down they came, spinning and tumbling seemingly out of control, more falling than flying, twirling in every possible direction as if writhing. Its wings were ticked in tight and its tail was lashing around in the air, but the dragon's expression seemed completely calm, completely composed despite its movements. Its closed eyes were snapped open and its path instantly straightened out, dive-bombing in a straight line like an arrow towards the ground. The dragon pulled off at the last second of its descent, going straight back up into the clouds once more.

They zoomed all throughout the island, the applause and cheering never stopping as they did. The Night Fury leaped off of buildings for extra flair and looped in the sky, even flying upside down, much to the children's joy. The rider even locked the fin again so he could stand on the dragon's back, leaping up while the dragon quickly looped again only to stand on its shoulder blades once more. This, Astrid was very impressed with – it took a lot of skill and courage to stand on a dragon and surf it through the wind. She would never be able to do something like that – if she were ever riding a dragon, and gods forbid that ever happened, she would most likely be clinging for dear life.

Out of nowhere, four dragons appeared that Astrid had never once seen in her life, dragons with long manes of hair similar to the great beard her chief sported himself, antler-like horns and spikes that rippled like water emanating from every part of their bodies appeared. These dragons coiled as the Whispering Deaths did upward into the air with wing beats and movements so strong the gust blew past the entire crowd. Astrid had to shield herself with her arms to brace against the mighty winds and keep herself from being knocked back against them. She and the others watched as the dragons now swirled and trailed around the Dragon Conqueror and the Night Fury, locking them in at the center of their orbit as if dawn to them. Astrid felt the fear and the wonder mixing together inside her, just watching the man calmly stand through it all, surrounded by the powerful, somewhat majestic creatures. That image did not do his legends justice, no amount of storytelling could to make up for the image of power she was baring witness to.

The four maned dragons stopped for a brief moment, hovering and growling softly at the masked man and his dragon. The Dragon Conqueror still made no sudden movements, his expression impossible to see due to the mask that blocked his face, his eyes darkened by the holes and invisible to the crowd. At the moment everyone seemed to let their guard down, the dragons fired their blasts into the air, the Night Fury and the four others. Everyone gasped, but soon laughed afterwards from the feeling of nearly having heart attacks, Astrid being the only exception.

The Night Fury's flame just burst in a large wave of cobalt, spreading out through the sky and dissipating soon after. The other dragons' were much flashier, their aftermaths appearing as glowing rains of vibrant light and color; the blue of the sky and the sun overhead seemed to darken in stark contrast into the aerial showers. Numerous particles of all different colors spread out with the quantity of a shower, blooming like flowers and going away quickly after, only for the dragons to fire again, lighting the sky with these bursts, each in a new color with every new shot. Astrid had never taken the time to look, but she could immediately say they were far more beautiful than even Arvindale's Fire, the glow that appeared in the night sky on the same day every year. She had never seen the glow, never really appreciated its beauty, and figured she never would.

Looking at this now, she might have felt glad that she stayed; she wasn't going to change her mind about dragons, and never would, but she had to admit, they put on a good show.

She had been deafened to the audience's applause and endless rounds of cheers, but before long they finally came back to her ear. Her senses were finally returned to her as she noticed people picking up and leaving, parents leading their children away. Even most of the dragons were going back to their pens beside the houses or going into the barn to take a well-deserved nap. The parade was over, it seemed, and people were packing up to go back to their houses and resume their normal activities.

Or so it seemed; upon closer inspection it looked as though they were passing by their homes, the crowd just moving on in one single line, not a single person going into a house. They all headed towards the Great Hall, pulling themselves up the stairs to get inside. There was something else going on, some big event that required everyone there; judging by the fact that children were allowed, it obviously wasn't business or war-related.

Astrid seemed lost for a moment, wondering what to do next. By now the others were probably wondering where she was and setting out to find her themselves. She felt she should go back and ease their troubled minds and not leave them panicking over needing to find two missing people. Her priority was Hiccup, to find the boy and bring him home, and currently there was no sign he was here…

But curiosity had gotten the better of her, this island of dragon riders and the Dragon Conqueror plaguing her every thought. There was something else going on here, something she was missing, and she needed to know what.

She hid herself among the throngs of Vikings and made way for the Great Hall herself, ducking her head down so no one else would take notice of her. She looked to the sky once more, and found that the Dragon Conqueror was now gone, as if he was never there.

'Who is that guy?' she wondered.

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><p><strong>Okay, so hope you guys enjoyed this one, and I hope you took a few breaks when reading it. Next chapter's the big moment for Hiccup and Draak – I know I've kept you in suspense over that. With the break now on, I'll have plenty of time to write it.<strong>

**Review, favorite, follow!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello, people. I managed to get the next chapter out a little quicker as a Christmas present to you all. Granted that's because it's a little shorter than the last. Okay much shorter, like 4000 words shorter. **

**Oh, and for those that noticed, I kinda fumbled with Woh's Changewing's name in the last chapter. Don't worry, I managed to correct it. Anyway, enjoy! This is it, Draak's new chief gets named today!**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>Astrid hunched down and kept her hood pulled down over her head, grasping the fur lined sides tightly and threatening to rip it over her head in an effort to remain unseen. She walked closely among the multiple villagers to hide amongst them like a leaf in the forest, one of the crowd, completely unseen. Despite what she had told the woman during the parade, she was a trespasser, and she had her doubts that the woman she spoke to during the parade really believed her. In such small enclosed communities where everyone knew everyone on islands surrounded by miles of open sea, it was far too easy to tell who was an outsider and who wasn't. She only hoped she could get to the bottom of whether these people were hostile or not quickly so she could get out of there without anyone noticing her.<p>

From underneath her hood, she could see all the dragons returning to their wooden dens next to the houses, or going inside the large barns to nestle in the hay and take their nap. Some were going off to large structures all over town to get a meal or to weird stations where they rolled around blissfully in warm coals or got their backs scratched by the metal spikes. This place seemed to perfectly accommodate dragons of all kinds and cater to their every need; Fishlegs would most certainly find this place interesting if he ever saw it. But to Astrid it seemed this place was almost meant more for dragons than humans. The Dragon Conqueror had most likely planned it so: gaining the people's trust so they would have no problem while the beasts overran their village and he'd have a big enough place to house all his pets. That jerk probably had this whole village wrapped around his little finger, giving them a good show and offering protection so they would do whatever he said. He had taken control and they hadn't even known it; it seemed he fully lived up to his name as 'Conqueror.'

She carried herself upon the large stone steps lined on the sides with stone statues of Vikings holding swords triumphantly over pits of fire, watching in protection of those who took passage. It was a great step up from the simple stone stairways on Berk that were now crumbling away from years of abuse. Going past the large statues that stood beside the great opened doors, the young shield-maiden took in the sight before her. An extravagant Hall far richer in design stood before her, with tapestries hanging from the ceiling and large opened windows filtering in sunlight and the fresh air of a new day. The pillars held at their tops metal-sculpted dragon heads, with tapestries of dragon symbols curling down upon them, each depicting one of the many classes of dragons, and at their sides torch pits that burned brightly with roaring flames. There was even a second level where numerous arched entrances could be seen, in the same design as the classic wooden Viking homes, each as ornate and lavish as the chief's home had once been on Berk. Astrid had hardly even noticed the additional wooden stairways leading up to that higher level on-looking the scene below.

All around on both floors benches were lined up around the fire pits and tables build around them, circling around the main platform with people filing in to take their seats in preparation for the major event to come. The excitement and impatience was quickly building like a catapult tensed up ready to shoot at a stray dragon as they had in the old days. The whole area was as busy as a beehive, teeming with activity; besides those that were crowding to find seats, there were several others running around fixing up any last minute decorations. They hung up more banners along the pillars underneath the dragon's heads, carried bowls of flowers to place at the tables, and polished up any metal in the room until it shined. At the front were several people lining up with large stone slabs with torches yet to be lit, a group of elderly Vikings taking their place behind each of them.

Everyone was too busy to notice Astrid; she silently thanked the gods and released her ironclad grip on her hood and stepped forward. She had to squeeze her way past multiple people clamoring around to find seats for the event. Some people even knocked her back by accident into one of the tables, though she managed to pick herself up right after.

She could feel the heat of the torches get to her from underneath her hood, the air a bit too stifling even when she hid within the shadows and felt the cool air from outside get to her. Whether from the heat or the nervousness that someone still might spot her, she began to sweat a few beads, feeling the drops run down from her forehead. She wiped her brow and made her way over to find the chief, that black bearded man from the beginning of the parade; a man such as him, even amongst similarly built Vikings, would surely stand out with his air of authority. Astrid couldn't even begin to think of what she might say to the man, and there was absolutely no way she would believe any kind of story she tried to sell. He would be able to sniff her out immediately and it would only be a short jump until they found the others. But despite the risks, she needed answers as to just what was going on, and when Astrid Hofferson wanted something, she got it.

Instead, she found something a LOT more interesting.

There, in the far end of the room by the window, were almost all of the dragon riders that participated in the parade earlier. She could recognize the riders of the Changewing, the Whispering Death, the Nadder, and the Thunderdrum. They were all gathered around in a circle talking amongst themselves, the subject of their conversation intelligible to her. Sneaking around the base of the pillar, she could make out a few more people, including the pregnant woman who flew upon the Timberjack.

And next to her was none other than the Dragon Conqueror himself, still clad in his black armor and with his face blocked by his helmet. His Night Fury stood right behind him, looking between his master and the pregnant woman; from all appearances he seemed to be the only dragon in the room. She could hear him laugh from underneath his helmet, and though muffled, she could swear the tone was vaguely familiar. She couldn't place where, though… until he took his helmet and undid the straps, removing it from his head.

Oh Gods... it was _him._

There he stood, with unkempt, windswept auburn hair, his hardened jawline bearing sparse amounts of stubble giving him a more mature look than she had ever seen on him. For once he held his head up high, he stood tall and proud, reflecting the leader that people had always expected him to become. She had always figured he would remain the same as he always did regardless of the years, and she would be able to recognize him in an instant. Now, though, she could swear she was looking at a different person entirely, especially when sticking his head atop the armor of the mighty Dragon Conqueror and putting him beside the most dangerous dragon that ever existed. It was as if she was in some mixed-up, parallel universe of the Trickster Loki's design, where skittish, fragile boys like him were remade into warriors as some jest so as to laugh at the baffled faces of others like her. But no amount of time or case of alternate reality would change those forest green eyes that she had grown to miss, the ones that shined with glimmers of hope even in a dragon's blaze.

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the lost heir of Berk – once believed dead and now here he was, alive and well.

Astrid grasped the sides of the pillars with her hands to brace herself against the storm of emotion raging within her, gasping for precious breath. Her heart pounded against her chest with all the ferocious strength of a blow to the chest from a war hammer from the inside out, her thoughts cloudy with blurred, mixed words and images like multiple colors combined to leave compound of dull mud. The boy she had come to love, the boy whose memory always led to regret, was here now, here for her to see, talk to, and bring home. She never thought she could see him so soon, or even at all – and on the off chance she had, she figured it would be as a bloody corpse. She started to advance towards him, hands out and ready to hold him, tears welling up in her eyes, not caring who really saw.

"So, do you think it will be a boy or a girl?" The rider of the Whispering Death asked. Astrid was snapped out of her euphoric stupor and quickly bolted to hide behind another pillar, watching them from behind.

"Girl, definitely," Hiccup and Alta said at the once, suddenly looking at each other and stifling their chuckles before bursting out in laughter. Woh awed looking at the happy couple, while Nogard just rolled his eyes with a smile and kept quiet.

"What do you think she'll look like?" Woh asked happily.

"Well, I'd imagine I'm gonna have a pretty beautiful daughter," Hiccup answered in a soft voice, looking at Alta fondly with a warm smile on his face. He held out a hand and gently placed it on Alta's stomach, while another held her by the shoulder, pulling her in slightly close. "So of course… she's gonna have her mother's eyes."

Looking at the couple, Astrid was floored – Hiccup never had any sort of confidence when talking to girls. He'd freeze up and babble and sputter when one so much as looked at him, and any clear sentences would end up being about any irrelevant topics. It was how he acted any time he got near her, at least in the few seconds she'd bothered to entertain his company. Wait… did that mean that Hiccup liked her? She supposed it was possible, given how skilled of a warrior she was; even if Hiccup never made any direct advances towards her like Snotlout did, the chance was very strong that he could have held some kind of infatuation with her.

"Very cute, Hiccup," Alta said sarcastically, but with a smile and a chuckle, moving his hands away and crossing her arms. "Very cute."

"What? Your eyes are beautiful!" Hiccup exclaimed jokingly and while waving his arms out. Alta blushed slightly at the comment, draping a lock of hair back behind her ear and turning away only for a moment before looking at him again. Only a few years had passed since their marriage and all the young dragon rider needed to do was look into those eyes to fall in love with her all over again. She understood because it was the same feeling she got whenever she looked into his eyes. Those strong, insightful eyes that reflected nature in its truest form and saw the world in a way no one else could. She could gaze into those eyes and never have to leave Draak at all, seeing the world and all it had to offer in full just from his gaze alone.

"Don't worry, lovebirds. I'm sure the baby will be cute, no matter whose eyes she gets," Ot said with a wry grin crossing his arms. Hiccup and Alta broke free from their mutual trance and turned to him, smiling and chuckling while turning their red faces away from each other. Hiccup sheepishly scratched the back of his head while Alta held her elbows and focused her gaze instead on the soon-to-be-born baby inside her.

"What are ya gonna name her?" Niart asked.

Hiccup and Alta blinked and looked at each other once more. They honestly hadn't thought that much about their baby's name, and when they did, they just couldn't make up their minds. There were just too many beautiful names for their beautiful baby, and they had looked in too many books and heard too many suggestions to prove such. In fact, it wasn't long after Alta received the news that she was pregnant and word spread out to the village that little competitions had formed to try and offer names for the child. But they knew they wanted her name to be special, something a little less generic or standard – more than anything they wanted their child's name to have a special meaning.

Alta pursed her lips together, thinking of a new name among the endless list of those she had already heard. "Agatha?" She suggested.

"No, too formal," Hiccup said shaking his head. "Maybe Alin?"

"Ew, no way!" Alta exclaimed holding out her hands in repulsion. "I know. How about _Astrid_?" She said in a teasing voice and with a sly look while pressing her index finger against Hiccup's lips. The joking intention completely missed Astrid, however, who at the mention of her name hid herself behind the pillar again, slamming her back upon the base. For a second she believed she might have been caught, though how that woman knew her name was a mystery to her, doubting Hiccup would have told her. The small movement had caught Toothless's eye and he turned to face the pillar, but the Night Fury quickly decided it was nothing and returned his attention to his rider.

Hiccup's face burned bright red at the thought of his ex-crush. "Okay, that was really mean!" He said. His face fixed into a flustered scowl for a few moments; Alta knew he had gotten over Astrid years ago. Astrid, on the other hand, heard his tone and began to think that maybe Hiccup did like her, maybe as much as she liked him. She felt butterflies flapping inside her stomach, but she was overjoyed to think that Hiccup might feel the same way about her that she did about him.

Alta giggled. "I love you, you big goof," She said before giving him a peck on the cheek. The moment she did, his scowl faded away and turned back into a loving smile.

"I love you too," Hiccup said with a roll of his eyes, and after a few more seconds of looking at his wife, his eyes widened with an idea forming in his head. "Wait, I know! Valka!"

"Valka?" Alta asked.

"Yeah!" Hiccup said. "Come on! Please?"

Alta thought over the name – she recognized it as the name of Hiccup's long-deceased mother, taken by the dragons from Berk and never seen again. She had always felt bad when she asked Hiccup for more information about his mother only to hear that there was nothing else he could tell her. Apart from her name, Hiccup had no knowledge of her identity, his father having selfishly kept her memory to himself, probably thinking Hiccup had no right to grieve when he had no conscious connection to her. She had to admit, she liked the name; it was very beautiful and it would help to bring Hiccup closure for what had happened, for some phantom pain that might exist over the loss of the parent he would never know.

"Okay then, Valka it is!" Alta cried out joyfully and wrapped her arms around her husband's chest. Hiccup had to step back a little from his wife's sudden motion, but caught himself on the first step back and held her firmly. The others clapped and gave their words of agreement over the baby's new name, even Toothless barking in joy.

Their small celebration was cut short when Hiccup heard a sharp cry from the crowd, a call-out of "Daddy!" Hiccup turned around and noticed Alvis running up to him through the aisles of people, running like a wolf in search of prey. He broke into the circle and leapt forward, Hiccup yelping in surprise but still managing to reach out and grab him at the last second. The boy was smiling brightly, bouncing in his father's arms and giggling, excitement lingering in between the parade and the ceremony taking place.

"Oh, Alvis!" Hiccup cried. "You gotta stop doing this. One of these days you won't have my split-second timing to help you out."

Astrid dared to peek out once more and see the energetic child Hiccup was holding, laughing and hugging him. This whole island was turning out to be one big headache – before one question could even be answered, a thousand more would appear. First an island of dragon riders, then Hiccup turning out to be the Dragon Conqueror, and now he apparently had a super-fan of a child. It was just like the once-embarrassment of Berk to get himself into such a complicated predicament.

"So I take it you enjoyed the parade, squirt?" Ot asked ruffling Alvis's hair.

"Yeah, dad's was my favorite part! You were riding up there with Toothless and going, 'whoosh, whoosh, zoom, zoom!'" Alvis said darting his arms around in all direction to try and mimic Toothless' amazing speed in the air. The Night Fury cocked his head and rumbled, thinking how silly his rider's child tended to act at times. "And the running on the houses and the diving and the swinging around on houses, it was so cool!"

"Actually, he was running around, then swinging on the houses, then zooming around on Toothless, then diving." Niart pointed out.

Woh rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Niart, I don't think he's all that preoccupied with order." She said wryly.

"Oh, man, I can't wait until I'm old enough to be a dragon rider! I'll get a super cool dragon just like Toothless and then I'll train with him and be the best, most awesome-est rider ever, just like dad!... I mean, not better than dad, 'cause nobody's better than him, I mean…" Hiccup laughed, keeping his ego in check even while his son was stoking it. He was doing much better than Toothless, who held his head up proudly and looked as regal as possible, as he always did when he received praise. Hiccup just chuckled and gave his dragon a playful punch on the head, with Toothless giving him a glare in return.

"That reminds me," Nogard spoke up. "Those graduates from the Dragon Academy were looking pretty good up there. Not bad for your first class, Mrs. Headmaster."

Alta smiled proudly at Nogard's compliment. After Hiccup left on his trip around the world with Toothless and Alvis, she had been chosen to take charge at the Academy as its new headmaster and lead teacher. The group she had been flying with were her first group of students who graduated, beginning when they were only ten years old. The rule of the academy was that a child could enter at the age of ten, and would graduate at age fifteen, after which they were considered full dragon riders and be allowed to join the new Dragon Defense Force that had been formed in order to defend the island against potential threats as well as qualify to compete in Dragon Races. Alta had proven herself to be a very capable teacher, creating an organized schedule for classes and individualized lesson plans based on multiple dragon species and flying drills and techniques. Though some people had to admit, she did tend to get a little rough with other lessons such as reading and writing, and she gave out a ton of homework.

"Thanks, I'm glad all those hours of teaching and dealing with procrastination paid off." She said with a shrug.

"Vikings complaining about reading, why am I not surprised?" Ot asked sarcastically.

"You know Vikings; unless it involves beating something with a bludgeon, it's work." Hiccup pointed out.

"So I heard a lot of people were asking if they could enroll next year. Is that right?" Woh asked.

"Are you kidding? I'm up to my neck in applications, and not all of them are from children." Alta said holding her head at the swarm of Viking adults who wanted to sign up for her classes. She could barely get a word in from the way they all crowded up to shout out their requests all at once. She was starting to think she might have to place a limit on the class size, not being able to teach so many at once. "I'm just glad we got that nursery installed; I'd almost think we wouldn't have enough dragons for them all."

It was Hiccup and Alta's idea together to create the Dragon Nursery that currently stood next to the Academy. It was before Hiccup left that he discovered around the time of the Viking winter holiday celebration Snoggletog that the dragons took that time to migrate to a volcanic island to lay their eggs and nurture their young. Needless to say everyone was in a confused panic when the dragons just up and left, but things eventually settled down when they returned with Hiccup and Toothless leading them. After explaining things, Alta proposed that they create a similar breeding environment on Draak; the nursery had everything they needed to ensure young dragons could grow healthily and safely. They needed to spend a few years with their parents once they hatched, but once they were of proper age and size they would be brought to the Academy to be paired with new riders. It always warmed Hiccup's heart to see the day they chose their dragons, and new bonds were made.

"Wait, isn't there a rule about adults signing up?" Niart asked.

"There isn't, actually." Hiccup said. "We only thought of children 'cause we figured they'd be a little more open-minded. And we set the age requirement thinking younger kids would be more liable to get hurt – kids and dragons need a little experience with each other before they can start riding together."

He remembered that's how it was for him and Toothless while patting the dragon on the head while Toothless purred. Hiccup knew all the playful experiences he had shared with Toothless had served another purpose besides him learning about dragons – it facilitated the trust needed for them to fly together. He felt it would be a good idea for learning riders to do the same and get comfortable around dragons before actually getting to the big stuff.

"Can't believe even the grown-ups get to join classes and I don't. Mom, Dad, can I sign up now? Pleeeease?" Alvis begged.

"Sorry, little bud, but you're gonna have to wait until you're older." Hiccup said. He wouldn't say it, but he was just as anxious for the day Alvis would finally get in and start learning to be a dragon rider. How proud he would be to see his boy flying the skies on his own dragon.

"But four years is gonna be like waiting forever!" Alvis whined. "Can't we just… say I skipped 'cause I'm a special case?" All the adults just laughed out loud at the boy's impatience, so loud even the other people around them could hear them amidst the rambunctious chatter.

"D-Don't worry, Alvis." Alta said after finally managing to calm herself somewhat, wiping away a stray tear from her eye. "Those four years will just fly by, so to speak, since you'll have your hands full being a big brother and taking care of your little sister."

"Oh, yeah!" Alvis shouted. "Is she gonna be here soon?"

"Healer said she's expected to come any day now." Alta said, patting her child on the head and straightening out his hair.

"Wait, seriously!?" Hiccup shouted. "Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"Oh, you mean there was a good time in between setting up defenses, organizing the races, planning for the Parade and your coronation to be chief to tell you?" She smirked. From behind the pillar, Astrid's face was one of complete bafflement. What did that woman mean by coronation to be chief? Was that what was going on – the island was selecting a new chief, and they were planning on it to be Hiccup? It wasn't common but there was no rule against choosing an outsider to be chief if he had commendable qualities, but Hiccup didn't really seem to fit into that category.

"Alright, alright, I get it, I'm a busy guy, soon to be even busier." Hiccup said, letting go of Alvis and holding his beloved wife by the waist.

"Hiccup!" Cried out a gruff voice. "It's time." The small group of young adults looked to see Hairke emerge from the crowd of people approaching them, with a stern look on his face.

"Okay, okay." Hiccup said, looking down and not letting the soon-to-be former chief see the small grin on his face. By his internal sense of time, Hiccup was fully aware they still had at least six more minutes until the ceremony was to take place. It could be said that Vikings were never for punctuality, but Hiccup had a stronger suspicion it was Hairke's fatherly instincts speaking for him; he would probably never get used to him and Alta together, he thought.

At this point Astrid had seen and heard enough; she feared that if she stayed any longer in this place her head was going to explode. Hiccup was here, he was alive, so all she had to do was drag him back to the ship so they could take him to Berk and he could be chief there. Berk was his home, the place where he was born, where all his family and neighbors were, it was where he was always meant to be and it was where she could be with him. She was prepared to jump out from the pillar and grab him to make a run for it, but she froze in place when the pregnant woman promptly gave Hiccup a good luck kiss.

On the lips...

Jealousy began to boil inside of Astrid, her entire form seething with deadly anger, more than the shield-maiden had ever felt in her life. How dare that girl kiss her Hiccup, her Hiccup! No other woman was going to so much as touch her Hiccup, over her dead body! Hiccup was hers, he had always been hers – he was a Berkian by blood and yet some random skank of a dragon lover though she could just lock lips with him. Her mind began racing with all the ways she could punish this thief for taking what rightfully belonged to her, a solid punch to the eye, a chop of her axe, wringing her by the neck, whatever gruesome means possible. She had hardly even noticed herself drawing her axe from its sheath, her very soul yearning with the desire, the intent to kill. But she was stopped when Hiccup proceeded to follow the black-haired large man from before while the last of the villagers scattered into their seats. She quickly hid behind the pillar where she knew no one could see her and remained quiet, trying to not to draw attention to herself while still gritting her teeth in anger watching the pregnant woman take her seat near the center of the room.

With everyone now gathered in the Great Hall, two Vikings shut the doors, the large wooden structures slamming shut with a loud crash. On the upper level of the Hall, a choir of men and women gathered together and sang out in harmonious joy; whispers and murmurs ran silent as the melodious voices echoed in clear and strong voices echoed across the walls. Sprits were both calmed and uplifted by words that spoke directly towards them:

_Verdig kongen av storhet, båret på dreki vinge_

_Hjertet av gull skinner, o skaperen av fred_

_Vi krone deg med håp, stolthet og tro._

_Vakker hav og himmel, hjem Draak_

_Følg kongen av flammen_

Hiccup kneeled down upon the last step of the circle, with Hairke standing at the top, facing the group of elders that had gathered and now lit the flames with the help of the dragons. King, Violet, Boomer, Shadespine, Bois, Hairke's Rumblehorn named Titan, and Toothless all gathered behind each elder and kept their eyes focused on the young dragon rider. Hairke finally turned, carrying in one hand a beautiful, shining sord, the other a powerful looking hammer, both inscribed with ancient Nordic runes. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III," the chief said once the choir had ceased their song. "You have been chosen to become the next chief of our tribe."

Hiccup remained silent while rising up and ascending to the topmost step, his face betrayed no emotion, remaining perfectly calm. He stood face to face with Hairke, staring the former chief straight in the eye, the former giving him the most serious look he had ever mustered in his life. They both knew it served as a test, the previous chief looking to see if here and now he had found a truly worthy successor, someone who would carry on the great new legacy he himself had created.

"Do you renounce and forsake all previous alignments outside of this land, and swear loyalty to this tribe you will govern?"

"I do," Hiccup said immediately. Astrid let out a sharp gasp at his quickness to throw away his allegiance to Berk.

"Do you swear to put aside your own needs and sacrifice of yourself to ensure this tribe's happiness and prosperity?"

"I do."

"Do you solemnly swear to lead the people with honor, and to protect this tribe at any and all costs?"

"… I do."

At last he handed Hiccup the two objects, Hiccup taking the sword in his right hand and the hammer in the other. Astrid was floored to see how the fishbone who once could barely lift a bludgeon without collapsing in on himself could now wield two weapons effortlessly. Hiccup then turned to face the crowd, holding the two weapons upright and gazing straight ahead, giving to all the tribe his most regal and mighty appearance. The entire crowd looked at him with a mixture of pride and awe in their eyes.

"Sword of the All-Father, grant unto your wielder the wisdom of Asgard so that he may lead with the brilliance of the North Star." Hairke announced. "Hammer of the Thunder God, grant unto him divine strength so as to safeguard this tribe from all who seek to rend it asunder!"

The elders chanted repeatedly in low, reverent tones: "_Frelser __mann __og __drage__, __bestige __nå __for å lede __vei__skjebne__."_ Again and again the words repeated, while Hairke stepped in front of Hiccup, carrying a small wood bowl with ashes. He dipped his fingers inside the bowl and drew a small symbol upon Hiccup's forehead, a horizontal line with an arch running above it, sealed with a vertical line running between the two. Once he completed, he went down the steps until he stood at the very bottom, bowing his head and speaking clearly above the elders.

"_Som han er __anerkjent av __gudene til __Valhalla__, __og__er født __vitne __av folket, __jeg presentere deg__...__sjef __hikke __av bein __hodet __stamme__."_ He chanted in prayer.

Once the chief reached the last step, the elders silenced themselves, and he too turned to face everyone, announcing in jubilant power. "As of today, I step down from my position as chief of this tribe. My people, I give you Hiccup, the Dragon Whisperer, chief of the Bone head Tribe!" Upon the call of his title, Hiccup twirled the weapons in his hands, crossing them with a loud clang of steel.

"Hiccup, chief of the Bone Head Tribe!" Immediately, everyone got up and started chanting and applauding. They threw up their hands in the air and screamed and cheered, tossing their helmets up and letting them collide with each other before crashing back down. The dragons shook the whole room with their roars and let loose their streams of fire, reaching up into the air and illuminating Hiccup's back. The whole room was alive with exuberance and joy, all except for one person.

Astrid, no one had noticed the look of absolute shock on her face, stepping back a few times before she finally rushed towards the door and slipped out. Bone Head Tribe? Hiccup, 'the Dragon Whisperer'?! Hiccup, chief?! Angry, astonished, and all around confused, she escaped the village and made her way back to the beach with speed to rival a dragon's. She had to tell Stoick about this!

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><p><strong>Okay, that's it for this chapter – Hiccup's now chief and Astrid knows what's going on. This ought to leave you hungry for what happens next.<strong>

**I hope you also liked the talk about the Nursery; I figured throw in something related to dragon babies as a throwback to Gift of the Night Fury. Think of it as like a puppy adoption center for dragons – wouldn't you just love to have something like that.**

**Now for the coronation – in the original version the author wrote that they got the idea from watching Frozen. I liked the idea and so decided to expand on it. But for anyone wondering or those that know their languages, it's not Old Norse. Yeah, sorry, I couldn't find any good online translators; there are just a bunch of dictionaries and I don't know the first thing about grammar for the language. So I had to go with a somewhat similar language, Norwegian being evolved from Old Norwegian, which evolved from the old western dialect of Old Norse. And Norway does have a Nordic culture.**

**I have translation here for all the Norwegian used in this chapter. I took the speeches used from Frozen for Elsa and edited them to more accurately represent Hiccup. Here is the song the choir was singing. **

**Worthy king of greatness, carried on dragon wing**

**The heart of gold shines, o creator of peace **

**We crown thee with hope, pride, and faith. **

**Beautiful sea and sky, home Draak**

**Follow the king of flame**

**And here are the words the elders were chanting over and over:**

** Savior of man and dragon, ascend now to guide the path of fate.**

**And finally, Hairke's prayer, based off of the words used by the Bishop of Arendelle in the movie, which is real Old Norse, if you didn't know. You can check to see what he said on the Frozen Wiki.**

**As he is acknowledged by the Gods of Valhalla, and is born witness by the people, I present to you... Chief Hiccup of the Bone Head Tribe.**

**Well, that's all for now, until next time, review, favorite, follow!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, here it is, the new chapter! You guys have all been dying to see what the others' reactions will be, so let's hope I delivered, because you guys did! Triple achievement - this story is past 100 reviews, favorites, and follows! Wow!**

**To be honest, I feel I barely have delivered this time around. I was coming down with a big case of writer's block when I had this, and so I really think it might be lacking in quality, more so than any of my other chapters. Mostly for this I just focused on making the conversations believable and maintaining the characters' personalities, but overall it might not be as good as, say, my Dragon's Hero fic. I'll let you guys be the judge of that, though, but keep in mind I am not a machine and I can't churn out writing gold each and every time. I feel bad for that honestly, because so many people have complimented my writing style.**

**On that note, I'll stop, and just let you guys read. Enjoy this special present to kick off 2015, and look forward to more works as well as the new seasons of the 'Dragons' series on Netflix!**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>Astrid had raced back through the dense forest as quick as she could in order to reach the beach where the others were waiting. Her usual grace and finesse was lost to her once more as she stumbled and tripped multiple times on small rocks or extended roots along the way. Though she was lucky enough with her footwork to avoid most of the larger obstacles such as the logs and fallen trees, she still managed to receive multiple new tears in her clothes with fresh cuts formed underneath from passing the sharp tips of the lower branches. Every minute or so she ran or after each of the few times she managed to trip and fall flat on her face, she kept looking back at the village that had just now come under Hiccup's dominion as chief. She had every intention to tell Stoick what had happened, but what she was going to say to him exactly was completely lost to her. Though he would be happy to hear that his son was alive and well, between Hiccup's being the Dragon Conqueror and now chief of this unknown tribe, she wasn't really sure how he would react. There wasn't really any one way this whole situation could be explained that didn't lead to things ending badly for either side. Where would she even begin to tell the chief so that those old feelings of anger and shame that drove him away to begin with would not be invoked?<p>

She found she had less time to think it over than she would have liked once she found herself on the beach, where everyone else was waiting. Once Stoick had caught sight of her, he narrowed his eyes with a hard glare, the others only looking at her bedraggled state in confusion and slight amusement, aware at how Astrid liked to carry herself so pristinely. The chief demanded an explanation as to why she had kept him and the others waiting when he gave explicit instructions. At that point, she had gotten so anxious over the matter that she forgot about whatever delicacy she had attempted to muster, Vikings not really known for it anyway, and just blurted out everything in a single breath. As she talked she had noticed Stoick's expression go from anger about the dragons to joy over his son's being alive, to pure confusion at the end. A long period of stunned silence came at the end of her tale, with a sense of awkwardness so strong it was practically visible around the gaping mouths of the young Vikings. But the silence was quickly broken by a sound that Astrid in all her frantic worrying was not expecting.

They laughed, all of them, they chortled and guffawed so loudly and so hardly their lungs were fit to burst from the strain. The twins had even fallen down and were rolling around in their fits while flailing and kicking out while the others were holding in their guts to save themselves at least some air. Snotlout was the first to break the laughter with conversation, though his voice was still riddled with amused sniggering and chuckles in the midst of taking in air.

"Okay… so let me get this straight… you're telling us that Useless is the Dragon Conqueror? And on top of that, he's… he's now chief of a village!?"

"From village runt to the Dragon Conqueror, talk about an upgrade!" Tuffnut still cackled.

"I know, can you imagine that, Hiccup being the Dragon Conqueror!?" Ruffnut laughed, before standing up and slouching while doing her best impression of Hiccup's nasally voice. "Hello, nice dragons! Hey… can we be friends, y-you know, if you don't feel like chewing me to bits? I can climb on your back and we can go flying and you can not try to kill me. Come on… let me give you a nice tasty fishy and you can do everything I say and we can be best buddies…" She dropped down again and continued laughing along with her brother.

Astrid growled while balling her fists in annoyance at their mockery. "Will you guys knock it off!? I'm serious about this!"

"Oh, yah, ah'll bet 'e was right there tall and strikin', standin' in pitch black armor, all mysterious like with a mask coverin' his face," joked Gobber.

"And he had a super cool looking weapon, like a sword you could stab someone a million times over with," Tuffnut said, jabbing his sister with his flattened hand mimicking the tip of a sword, "but it never loses its sheen or razor sharpness."

"And he had a big bad Night Fury right by his side, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, bowing to him like a dog!" Snotlout said while feigning fear but soon cackled once more. And the others followed suit once more, even after only regaining their breaths.

If it weren't for the fact that Astrid was burning up with impatient anger, she might have been surprised at how closely they had described him. It had all just recreated the image of Hiccup standing together with that Night Fury, of him flying through the skies from atop the back of that horrid creature, and regardless of the repetition, the sight still left her breathless. She could understand where they were coming from; she had hardly believed it herself when she first saw Hiccup as the Dragon Conqueror. In hindsight if someone had told her what she was telling the others right now, she supposed she might have reacted the same way. It was sad seeing that despite all their fervent efforts to find him, they still kept that same mentality of him as they had for so many years, as she noticed she had on the way over. Hiccup's name itself seemed to be synonymous with cowardice and failure; that alone seemed to be enough to erase whatever feelings of guilt they might have had and block out any views of accomplishment he might have obtained.

"Come on, Astrid," Fishlegs reasoned. "Hiccup was good with dragons but there's no way he could ever tame one. Statistically speaking, it's just impossible for dragons to show such calm and docile behavior."

"Then explain what I saw!" Astrid shouted again with reinvigorated anger, Fishlegs yelping and quivering in response. "That dragon was there, right behind him, acting like a pet! T-They all were, they were flying around performing for a whole crowd of people! That goes well beyond just being good with dragons! I don't know _how_ he did it, but he got _hundreds_ of dragons to follow him and build this super big village where they can just have fun all the live-long day with fancy parades and ceremonies with more than they even know what to do with 'cause dragon killing is played out to them!"

"Astrid, stop joking around," Stoick scolded the younger Viking after finally regained control of himself. "This Dragon Conqueror nonsense aside, this is Hiccup we're talkin' about. He's a talented boy, but he's no chief. Not yet, anyway."

Astrid couldn't help but feel how hypocritical Stoick was being right at that moment as she turned around to face him. Sure he claimed Hiccup was talented but at the same time he had laughed right along with the others when she told the story. Aside from that, she remembered the days when Hiccup was still on Berk and Stoick had gone and humiliated him by scolding him right in front of the village when something had gone wrong once his inventions had gone wrong right after the raids. It was really the first time she had ever felt something akin to disapproval towards her chief, the image of ultimate strength he was that she had placed in her mind since she was a child. Her angered gaze was attempting to soften as she remembered the respect she had always had for him, and that kept her anger at bay for the most part.

"I'm not joking, sir. Why would I lie about something like this?" She asked.

Stoick frowned while Gobber piped up from behind. "Cause most lasses want ta paint their men as some big-time hotshot who'll sweep them off their feet." Astrid's expression could only be described as flustered while she blushed an embarrassing shade of red as Gobber continued. "I remember when ma mum first told me abou' when she tied the knot with ma dad. She always said he was never much ta look at next to this other guy she'd had her eye on. She said whenever she needed a breather, she'd picture him atop a mountain o' dead dragons with a banner in his hand wearing nuthin' but his-"

"Lalalalalala! I don't wanna hear this! I don't wanna hear this!" Fishlegs cried putting his hands to his ears to shield his hearing.

"Look Astrid, I know you miss him, we all do. But makin' up crazy stories is not gonna get us any closer to findin' him. Hiccup's a Viking, and my son; he knows full well how dangerous those beasts are, and he'll defend Berk against them once I teach him to be a proper chief!" Stoick emphasized those last words loudly while looking at Snotlout, probably remembering how he single-handily ruined the entire village. The accusing look was completely lost on the young chief, though.

"And apart from that, this joke that he got some girl pregnant is ridiculous," Snotlout said, laughing once more. "Hiccup wouldn't even have the guts to so much as _kiss _a girl, let alone make a baby with her!"

"How many times do I have to tell you all I'm not making this up!?" Astrid yelled in frustration; the girl was just about ready to pull her hair out after having argued with the others for a solid twenty minutes. "Hiccup IS the Dragon Conqueror! He DOES have a Night Fury! He IS the new chief here! And he DID kiss some pregnant girl on the lips! I saw it all with my own two eyes!"

"And you're absolutely sure it was Hiccup?" Tuffnut asked with an eyebrow cocked. "Not, I dunno, some doppelganger or something?"

"First of all, I'm surprised you actually know what that word means. And second, I am positive that that man was Hiccup!" Astrid shouted. "He had the same hair, the same eyes, and the same voice! Not to mention the chief called him by his full name! What more proof do you need?" Stoick turned his eyes away in thought for a second, but then walked up to Astrid keeping silent and inspecting her for any signs of insincerity, but found nothing of the like.

"Are you sure?" Stoick asked.

"Hey, if I'm wrong, I will _kiss_ Snotlout. On the _lips_!" She shouted while pointing to Snotlout.

"Come on, babe, why wait? I mean, I get that that you might wanna save it until we were married, but if you were that desperate for a little taste of Snotlout, you shoulda just-" Snotlout tried to continue but was interrupted by Astrid's hand blocking his face and muffling his sad attempts at sweet talk. The others would only look at each other unsurely, knowing full well of Astrid's disgust for the Jorgenson; the shield-maiden wouldn't make such a claim or even consider it unless she was dead serious and was firmly positive of what she saw.

Stoick was scratching his beard, clearly deep in his own thoughts. He wanted his son to be alive with all his heart, but all these things the Hofferson girl was telling him seemed like an impossible dream. Whenever he spared a thought for the Dragon Conqueror, apart from disgust for someone who would defy all tradition and try to make peace with such a monster, he'd thought of him as daring in regards to his work. When he thought of anyone who held the position of chief, usually someone like himself, he'd think brave, strong, and responsible. Hiccup was just the opposite of all those things: reckless, introverted, clumsy, quiet, more of a follower than a leader. The idea that he would become a chief of any tribe, let alone Berk, seemed completely mind-boggling to him, to say nothing of the fact that some girl would show interest in him. But at the same time, Astrid had never been one to lie, no matter how ludicrous her claim seemed to be. He had to give it a chance, and if it turned out she was right and Hiccup really was playing around with dragons and a wife… well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

"Stoick?" Gobber questioned, seeing his old friend's insightful expression which soon drew a shocked one from him. "Wha-You're not seriously gonna buy this, are you?"

"Oh, what choice do I have?" Stoick asked. "And really? You're questionin' the truth to a tale? Aren't you the resident expert on wild 'n crazy stories?"

"There's a fine line between crazy 'n downrigh' loony – don't take a genius ta figure out which 'o the two this falls under." Gobber said pointing his hook at Stoick. "On tha note, of all the tales ya been told, THIS is tha one you believe!?"

Stoick let out a heavy sigh looking down. "I have nothing to confirm it's true, but I turn away from any possible lead, how long will it be before I find him? What if he's truly here and I left because of a lack of faith?" He turned back to Astrid with eyes full of resolve. "I suppose I'll have ta see it ta believe it. Let's go! It's time we pay my son a visit."

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><p>"Oh… My... Gods…" Ruff and Tuff said at once.<p>

"I don't believe it," Snotlout said completely breathless and shaking his head in astonishment. "It's right there in front of me and I don't believe it."

"Believe me, I didn't believe it at first either," Astrid said. "But it's real."

Stoick, Gobber, Astrid and the others were peeking in from the edges of the windows of Hiccup's home, sticking mostly to the sides so no one inside the abode would notice. Astrid had managed to sneak them into the village without any trouble thanks to the cover story she had told the lady, though it was a bit hard to keep the others in line with them trying to hack away at every single dragon that crossed their line of sight. As she predicted, the whole of the village got under the skin of the chief, Stoick's face turning surprisingly redder than his own beard, not even being able to resist drawing his weapon with murderous intent and charge off every time he saw a dragon eating, napping, or being scratched by its rider. Astrid had been forced to physically restrain the man each and every time, and managing to stop him, Gobber told her, was a feat of strength in itself. He looked at every single person they passed along the way with angry condescendence like they were a brainless fool with a death wish, and as time passed and they saw more of the village he found a powerful urge to kill them as well as their beloved pet demons. The man was running on a very short fuse, and it wouldn't be long before he exploded.

The rest, however, were taking things a bit more in stride once Astrid had managed to calm them down. They had taken the time to notice how advanced and prosperous the village seemed to be in comparison to theirs, taking note of all the intricately designed houses and wooden structures with purposes unknown to them. Fishlegs was like a child in a room full of pies, gasping and gawking at all the rare dragons they were seeing, not being able to help himself from spouting out facts and stories about them. Gobber found himself marveling at the food dispensers and the windmills that seemed to power everything; he had mentioned seeing Hiccup's hand in each of them, and couldn't help but let out a whistle of pride. The twins were paying attention to the dragons as well, noting how much fun they could have blowing things up while on the backs of their own dragons, although the bleachers to the side of the island had caught their attention as well. They had wondered for a while if it was so people could watch the dragons cause destruction, but Astrid had remarked otherwise. Snotlout was just looking around, gods knew whatever it was he was thinking, but based on the glare and small smirk on his face, Astrid could safely assume it was nothing good.

The Berkian group was completely mesmerized by the scene in front of them. There Hiccup was in the living room, still dressed in his armors, having a conversation with the ex-chief from before. They were discussing Hiccup's plans for the village going on ahead now that he was chief, to which Astrid could confirm Gobber's theory that Hiccup had a hand in all the construction of the village. The woman she saw from before was there as well, reading a book silently by the fireplace while rubbing her stomach to check on the baby's condition.

But what really struck everyone as the dragon in the room was the actual dragon in the room, the one Astrid had pointed out to be Hiccup's curled up around the child she saw earlier. The little boy was on the floor, playing with wooden blocks with the dragon watching and nuzzling him, the boy giggling and trying to shove the black scaled creature's ticklish head away. The dragon only did so after a quick lick on the cheek. It curled its tail around him, Gobber quickly taking notice of the prosthetic and marveling at Hiccup's fine craftsmanship; he seemed almost disappointed that Hiccup was to be a chief and would not be a master blacksmith since he clearly had the talent for it.

Astrid looked over at the others, judging their expressions; she found each of them with their jaws hanging wide open in shock, probably at varying aspects of the quaint image before them. Stoick's however, was dropped the lowest; the man looked for a moment too overcome with emotion to speak, either that or he felt he was going completely insane.

"T-T-That's a, that's a…" Fishlegs stuttered pointing a shaky finger at the dragon. "I-I don't know what that is… I-I-I've never seen any dragon like it. The Book of Dragons doesn't have any information on a black dragon, how can it not have any information? I don't even know what I'm looking at! W-What do you guys think it is – a-a Mystery class, Fear class!? Maybe even a Strike Class!?"

"Who cares about the dragon!?" Ruffnut seethed before turning back to the window. "I just wanna look at the rider…" She kept her eyes locked on Hiccup, a dazed, dreamy look in her eyes and sultry tone in her voice while a drop of drool was hanging on her lip. Tuffnut caught sight of his sister's strange behavior and grimaced slightly.

"Ugh, what's with you?" Ruffnut didn't respond, apparently ignoring her twin completely.

"No point in talking to her now," Snotlout mused. "I know that look – it's the one all the ladies get when they look at me." That the twin responded to, giving Snotlout a glare and sneer of disgust and punching the man in the shoulder.

"No, this is the look girls give you. And I love it." Tuffnut snickered.

"It's goin' to be a real pickle," Gobber mused. "Convincin' Hiccup ta come home when he is clearly happy here."

"No one's goin' ta take my son away from me… certainly not a bunch o' dragon lovin' bastards…" Stoick growled softly watching with a hardened gaze, promptly standing up and ready to charge through the front door. The man was trembling with furious resolve, having been intent from the very start on bringing Hiccup back, hefted over his shoulder if need be, regardless of any consequence. Now he practically welcomed those said consequences; these dragon riders would all die at his hand for what was clearly their theft of his son. Watching him and practically easily reading this desire from his stature, Astrid could only pity Hiccup for possibly getting caught in the crossfire of what his father might do. She quickly followed and grabbed Stoick by the shoulder just as he had turned the corner.

"Stoick," Astrid said firmly. "I know you're upset by this. But we're not going to get Hiccup back by, I don't know, clubbing him over the head and stuffing him in a sack."

"Wha-?" Stoick looked utterly flabbergasted, quickly extending into insulted. "What makes you think that I was going ta do somethin' as crazy as that?"

"Oh, so you actually had a plan then for getting' 'im outta there?" Gobber remarked dryly. Stoick's silence only confirmed the smith's theory of his attempt at what may now be considered kidnapping.

Astrid sighed heavily at Stoick's likeness to his son in stubborn recklessness – they may not admit it, but the two were more alike than they wanted to believe. "If we're going to get Hiccup back, we need a plan. Remember, he may not look it, but he IS the new chief of this 'Bone Head' Tribe-"

Snotlout and Tuffnut interrupted with their mocking laughter once more, holding in their guts and bracing themselves against the sturdy wall. "Hahaha! 'Bone Head' Tribe! That is just so appropriate!" A sharp glance from Astrid immediately calmed the two dimwitted Vikings down.

"Meaning he now has a whole armada under his command, an armada of dragon riders, to deal with enemies. And in his eyes, _we're_ probably enemies." Astrid continued.

"Hiccup's a goodharted lad, but don' think he won' send his troops after us; I'll spare ya the math and tell ya right now the seven of us are no match for an army. We need a plan if we're going to approach him. A safe plan." Gobber said. "In other words, no bustin' down doors."

Stoick rubbed his hand against his forehead and ran it down to pinch the bridge of his nose, impatient enough as it is. Hiccup somehow always managed to get himself into these impossible situations that just made things difficult for everyone. Time had apparently done little to rid him of that bad tendency. He did feel like berating himself for his own foolishness though, thinking he could charge in when there was clearly another strong Viking in addition to a dragon in the room. Either one would try to stop him the second he came in and made a move to capture Hiccup, either by taking him on or by alerting the others. As much as he hated to admit it, Hiccup would most likely hold a grudge against them – there was no way any of them would be able to escape alive.

They did need to form a plan; the old Viking fallback wasn't going to cut it this time. He gathered the others together to come up with ideas as to how they could get Hiccup without alerting anyone to their presence. Stealth was clearly the key, but Vikings had their own bad tendencies in their charging headstrong - subtlety couldn't really be considered one of their strengths. They had failed to notice the hours waning by as they shot down one bad idea after another, mostly the twins' whose ideas could be considered either ridiculous, such as launching themselves from a catapult on the island to snatch Hiccup so fast they could not be seen, or downright impossible, such as turning invisible. Fishlegs had been the one to alert them that Hiccup and his family had left and gone upstairs, probably to get ready for bed, with the dragon close behind.

"W-What do we do?" Fishlegs whimpered. "They're getting away and we still don't have a plan to get Hiccup back!"

"Oy, didn't ya learn anythin' during Dragun Trainin'?" Gobber exasperatedly asked. "If yur gonna lose yur head at every little thing, yer sooner ta kill yerself before the draguns even get tha chance!"

Fishlegs didn't respond for a moment, and when Gobber turned to him, he could see why. The oversized man was gaping, his eyes opened so wide his eyelids threatened to tear apart while his jaw quivered along with the rest of him. Clearly intimidated, he raised a shaky finger up and pointed right behind him. "Y-You sure? 'C-c-cause from where those two are standing, I'd say t-t-they could k-kill us in record time!" He whispered with furious panic.

The group all turned back and jumped at the sight of what they had found, desperately trying to hold in their gasps of fear. Right behind them were two enormous dragons, sound asleep in a barn nestled together in the hay. One of them was colored orange and yellow with long horns and a serpentine body, while the other had a silver head with similarly long black horns, though the rest of its body was a reddish orange. Their large wings were tucked into their sides while their tails were snugly wrapped around their bodies. Both seemed so peaceful as they dozed off, but the smoke emanating from their nostrils quickly reminded the group that these were dangerous creatures that could kill effortlessly, as if they needed any reminder.

"Un-be-lievable…" Snotlout whispered angrily gesturing to the two slumbering behemoths. "He has three dragons!?"

"One of them is a Timberjack, attack strength 10, stealth 13, razor sharp wings that can cut through trees like a guillotine…" Fishlegs subconsciously mouthed off with his dragon facts. "They're incredibly rare, I-I've never seen one this close. But that other one… I don't recognize it either! WHAT is WITH this place and having all these super-rare dragons I've never seen before!?"

"Will you shut it!?" Astrid scolded with a punch to his shoulder, Fishlegs wincing perhaps a bit more than necessary from the pain. "You wanna wake them up? Who cares what kind of dragon it is, the longer it sleeps the longer we stay alive and uncaught!"

"Wait a minute… that's it!" Stoick said. The others all immediately turned to their chief, detecting he had formulated a plan of action and awaiting his orders. "All right, everyone, here's the plan. I say we wait 'till everyone is asleep, then-"

Just then, an abrupt creaking sound was heard, interrupting Stoick right in the middle of his strategy with the words cut off in mid speech. The unexpected noise had alerted Astrid and allowed her to seize her attention back from the chief long enough to notice that their group had diminished in number. The only ones still there ducking under the windowsill at the moment were herself, Stoick, Gobber, and Fishlegs; Snotlout and the twins were nowhere to be seen. After quickly turning around to see that the dragons had remained undisturbed by the loud creak, she checked around the immediate area for any sign of the moronic troublemakers. She growled under her breath; she knew if they were going to be caught, it was going to be for something one of them did, not being able to control their stupid urges for mischief even at the most serious of times. The creaking sound was heard again, albeit with less volume, and everyone's heads turned to the source to see that the front door to the house was wide open.

She almost didn't want to believe even they could be that stupid, but the three had just gone inside.

"Why that no good, mutton-brained, pompous, butt-troll!" Astrid ran for the door and stood right at the entrance peering through the unlit shadows for any sign of them. Though it was dark, she could make out the workings of a very finely-crafted home, appearing more like a palace with all their belongings and the stylish architecture. "Snotlout! Ruff, Tuff!" She whisper-shouted.

Sure enough, she managed to spot the three of them going up the stairs to the second floor, Snotlout in the lead with the twins tagging behind peering around trying to act stealthily but only making themselves look ridiculous. She muttered under her breath and quietly barged in right after them, Stoick and the others stood guard by the door keeping an eye out for anyone who might have spotted them. Hard to imagine though since by now everyone in the village would be asleep.

"What are you guys doing!?" Astrid called after them.

"Uh, isn't it obvious?" Snotlout said matter-of-factly. Astrid cringed at their loud volume, not even bothering to lower their voices, but her body language was completely flying over the heads of the three. "I'm going to see my baby cousin! He thinks he's so cool just 'cause he's the Dragon Conqueror and a big time chief with three dragons! I oughta give him a piece of my mind!"

"Careful, I think you need what little you've got!" Ruffnut said while she and her brother sniggered.

"Weren't you listening to Stoick before!?" She called after them again. "We need to wait until we're sure they're asleep!"

"Well, we got tired of waiting." Tuffnut said matter-of-factly while shrugging his shoulders. "And how do you know they're not asleep already?"

"Cause they're bound to hear you jabbering!" Astrid angrily whispered. "Now will you keep it down!?"

"Relax babe. You said we needed to work things out with him." Snotlout said. "While I admit, he has every right to be mad with you guys, I should at least be allowed to make an effort to help work this all out like the loving cousin I am."

"Snotlout, barging in isn't exactly the best impression!" She argued harshly, even more so by the fact that Snotlout seemed to be pinning this whole situation on the rest of them. "And 'loving cousin,' seriously!? You treated him like a punching bag for fourteen years! And you were just talking about giving him a piece of your mind!"

"Ah, call it killing two dragons with one boulder. I'm sure I can handle this."

With that, he quickly climbed up the remainder of the stairs, followed by the twins and Astrid. They reached a small hallway with two doors on each side and, to their surprise, another staircase at the end leading up to a third floor with a potted plant right next to it. The group felt a short mutual feeling of awe at the extension – with another floor atop this one, the place could easily be considered a palace, and no doubt the rooms behind the doors were quite spacious. The moment had passed just as quickly as it came for Snotlout, who walked down the hall and grabbed the doorknob to one of the rooms on the right side. Astrid had caught his movement and bolted right after him.

"Snotlout, I swear to the Gods, if you walk in there, I will-"

"Aw, look, she's so crazy about me she can hardly control herself!" Snotlout said, gesturing to Astrid for the twins. "Astrid, it's okay. I get that your love for me is so powerful you just wanna shout it out for the world to hear, but you're just gonna have to be strong and hold it in a little longer."

"Honestly Snot, sometimes I think your head is screwed on backwards. We're not fourteen anymore! Why are you so-" But before Astrid could even finish her sentence, Snotlout yanked the door open.

"Hello little cousin!" He shouted happily.

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><p><strong>You people must hate me for all these cliffhangars, but we're just going to have to leave it right here.<strong>

**I might have to take a break for a while – again, I was suffering from some pretty heavy writer's block in the midst of writing this. I feel by now I'm just churning out one chapter after another, and you'll notice this is what caused the original to suffer as well, leading to an ending that some might not have been satisfied with. I need a little time to get my ideas in check, and just give me a chance to rest, so I can come back fresh and reinvigorated. I want to give you guys the best stories I can – believe me, this is as much for you as it is for me.**

**In the meantime, review, favorite, follow! And if you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to look at them and take them into consideration. Till next time!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Okay, thank you for all your patience – or however much you could muster – your wait is over. The next chapter is finally here!**

**First though, a few things… **

**Congratulations to How to Train Your Dragon 2 for their win at the Golden Globes! All of us fans are no doubt feeling very proud for their win – it truly is a masterful film. I myself am feeling very happy for Dreamworks right now, who are going through bittersweet times what with both this and the fact that they are once again planning layoffs. Don't give up you guys – you still got it.**

**Second, a thank you to NightShade248 for their comment about my rewrite in their latest chapter of 'Run Away.' I was just over the moon at those kind words, and I'm so glad that this has the original author's approval. I gotta say, when I first started this, I just had a few ideas for how things could work out and just wanted to fix up some spelling and grammar. Then I started writing and it just sort of grew from there. Again, thanks so much.**

**So, that being said, let's get on with it. I was waiting to get to this chapter for a long time because I just love it when Hiccup gets to put those Berkians in their places. I tried to go along with what readers like The Whisperer of Death and the stargate time traveler said and not just make it one big scream fest. Hopefully it didn't turn out that way, but I'll let you guys be the judges – but keep in mind that Stoick and the others have caught him at a bad time so he's bound to be a bit irritable. For some parts just picture them talking in strong voices.**

**All rights to Httyd belong to Cressida Cowell and Dreamworks. All OCs and original story belong to NightShade248.**

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><p>There was a moment of tense silence following Snotlout's enthusiastic greeting that engulfed the whole house like wildfire. The outburst had even quieted the incessant bickering of the twins as they climbed up the stairs to stand right behind Astrid, a feat few could manage to pull off. Even leaning away, Astrid could barely see a few inches into the room ahead of them, and she couldn't even begin to imagine what Hiccup's face was like. Being happy to see a familiar face was completely out of the question, especially since that familiar face was Snotlout's. Who would be happy coming face to face with the bully that made their life miserable after six long years to most likely stew over it? If she had to guess, she would say Hiccup would be more along the lines of shocked or embarrassed, maybe even angry, although that was stretching it since he never got angry, that someone had intruded into his house and caught them just before bed. But neither she nor any of the others ever could have expected what came mere moments after the initial intrusion.<p>

Hiccup came barreling out of the room in a fit of rage, a look of pure, pent-up fury on his face, holding a metal rod in his hands and, to both Astrid and Ruffnut's surprise, and somewhat delight, was half-naked. He viciously pinned Snotlout down onto the floor, banging the rod against his helmet and at times smacking it against his face, hard enough to even break his nose, Astrid surmised. It completely astonished the young shield-maiden that the lanky boy she was burdened once to know was even capable of such a fit of violence. His pacifistic tendencies had always been one of the major reasons people had rejected him so, because he willingly restrained himself from something that should have been basic nature to his kind. It had long gone past the point that he couldn't lift a blade with his feeble strength to where he was mocked for not even having the capacity to fight back when they pushed him down. He always accepted it willingly and always tried to compensate for himself with his stupid ideas instead. And yet here was that so-called intellectual, the boy who wouldn't even harm a fly, beating his own cousin into a pulp, and as much as the half-troll deserved it, Astrid couldn't help but feel sorry as Snotlout was on the receiving end of fourteen years of retributed anger.

"Ow! Ow! OW! OW! Hiccup! It's me!" Snotlout yelled in short bursts between each whack the man atop him dealt. "Snotlout! Your cousin!"

"I _know _who you are!" Hiccup yelled at the top of his lungs, still hitting Snotlout. "Why do you think I'm hitting you!? Why are you here?!"

"What is going on here? Hiccup, who _is _this guy?!" Alta shouted coming out of the room wearing a thin nightgown with a sash tied around her waist and thin fur boots on her feet. From the wide-eyed look of on her face, she was just as surprised as Astrid at Hiccup's out-of-character behavior. Alta turned and noticed the shield-maiden in question along with the twins, one holding his sides in uproarious laughter and the other apparently ogling her husband. "And who are you, for that matter!?"

Astrid, as much as she wanted to give that smug piece of trash a piece of her mind, ignored her and rushed towards Hiccup and Snotlout. She grabbed Hiccup by the arm that grasped his makeshift 'weapon' and tried her best to pull the two boys apart. "Alright, break it up! _Break! It! Up!_"

"Hey, come on! This is, like, the most entertaining thing to happen all day, killjoy!" Tuffnut said with a scowl. "Just look at him go!"

Ignoring Tuffnut's ridiculous penchant for violence, she was actually surprised that she could not get Hiccup to budge an inch, as opposed to years ago when just about anyone could lift the sorry little fishbone by the scruff of his collar. When she first saw him, she was surprised by how much he had appeared to change, how powerful he seemed to be while wearing that suit of somewhat meager-looking leather armor. But armor had that effect on anyone; take it away and they'd assumed they'd be left with the same shrimpy weakling Hiccup had always been. Either that or it was her ever-increasing lack of effort as she found herself staring, even admiring Hiccup's topless torso for the first time ever. He was still thin in comparison to even the thinnest Vikings on Berk, and with their lack of nourishment and training there were a lot of them. But where there were once bony arms and a ribcage visible against somewhat pale skin, there was now solid, defined muscle, biceps, triceps and a stomach toned with a fully visible set of six-pack abs. His body appeared almost to be cut from stone, with not a hint of the fat that most Vikings had once or still barely managed to sport. Once again, she found herself dumbfounded while looking with this man, this _man_, and trying to apply the logic that this was the same boy they never thought would make anything of himself, and who could only be a warrior in his own ridiculous fantasies.

In her struggle, she had hardly noticed the pregnant woman run up behind her and actually help in prying Hiccup off. She was hardly for complaining right now, yet it still peeved her that this other woman, this witch, was even touching him. "Seriously, would like an explanation right about now!"

"What's going on…?" Asked a quiet voice from an unknown source.

Another door in the hall suddenly opened at that moment, revealing a little boy with bedridden hair, a woolen blanket under his arm and rubbing his tired little eyes clear of any traces of drowsiness with a small hand. Alvis emitted a high-pitched yawn and focused his blurred vision on the sight of his father assaulting an unknown person, with his mother and another stranger trying to pull him away. His eyes widened as soon as the strange picture came into clear view and he let out a gasp at his father's uncharacteristic rage that seemed to be catching everyone off guard. But for the small child, who had never once seen the man who held the connection of father to him show such a look of pure anger, it went beyond a matter of shock. Alvis' young mind was racing with questions, and a lack of answers in the racing pace of the moment gave rise to base fear and panic.

"D-Daddy?" Alvis shakily asked as he walked over to where his nearly unrecognizable father was, clutching onto the blanket for security. He was stopped immediately as a flash of black came before him, revealing itself to be his father's dragon Toothless. The Night Fury gazed at him with eyes of concern that bounced up and down as he tried to nudge Alvis back into the room. The boy had been frozen in place, and his forced steps back came clumsily and dazed, while he still tried to peer over the dragon to see his father.

"What's all the noise up here?!" Came a roaring voice from below the stars, startling the child and causing him to trip over his own feet. From the first floor running up came a flustered Stoick, followed by the husky forms of Gobber and Fishlegs. He scanned the narrow hallway for Hiccup, having heard his voice from above accompanied by cries of pain and laughter and restraint and everything in between. But his sight had locked dead onto the form of the black dragon the second he caught the slightest glimpse of it, and with a flash of anger crossing them refused to move elsewhere. The dragon looked back at him with widened slits and took a step backward in apprehension of the giant man's next move.

And in that moment, hell truly broke loose.

With a war cry far more furious than any his fellow Berkians had ever heard from him before, Stoick charged forward and tackled the dragon down. They rolled down the hallway, tumbling onto each other over and over before stopping a little ways past the room where his son had reacted so similarly just moments earlier – with the dragon on top of him. With a heavy slug and locking its head into his arm to strangle it, Stoick quickly reversed the situation and climbed on top of the dragon, beating it to a pulp with punch after punch. Toothless desperately tried to regain his senses after each blow only to have another one land squarely on his jaw and daze him again. And the worst part was that the blind flurry of attacks showed no signs of stopping as the man just continued to scream curses at him. Shouts of 'vile demon,' 'accursed beast,' 'monster,' 'devil,' 'abomination' – every insult Vikings had come up with for dragons, and given their long history and vulgar attitudes, there had been quite a few concocted.

Though it had accomplished something positive as well – the continuous bombardment of punches and slurs had drawn the attention of the chief. He ceased his assault on Snotlout and turned to find his father viciously pummeling his dragon. "Toothless!"

He darted away to the shock of the two women, who fell back from his sudden movement after persisting in vain to remove him forcefully. The rod he was holding fell to the ground with a heavy thud, only to be picked up again by Tuffnut who continued with the beatings in his stead. He saw his father reach towards his side and raise his battle-axe high, ready to cleave the black dragon's head in two. The eyes of both rider and dragon widened, Toothless left completely paralyzed while Hiccup rushed over as quickly as he could.

"Now, spawn of evil, DIE!"

Stoick brought the axe down with both his arms, intent on putting as much force as possible into the blow with the sadistic hope it could slice the beast's entire head in two. He would revel in the fountains of its tainted blood gushing from the soon-to-be split. He could already hear its melodious final breath and pleas for its pathetic life. It would whimper pathetically before succumbing to its death, and by then he would continue to enact his righteous wrath by further mutilating its carcass, tearing it apart and ripping out whatever foul guts lied inside. Hiccup would see that no semblance of soul existed in such a disgusting creature, and he would finally be free of the spell it had placed on him.

But things ended up not going as planned, to say the least, when the very same boy actually yanked him by his cape and pulled him back. By the very same boy that once could barely even lift a shield, Stoick was tossed harshly to the ground, and his axe was knocked away. Lifting himself up he actually saw Hiccup attempting to _help_ the dragon, pulling it back onto its feet without even casting a second glance to his father. Stoick, still caught in the rush of it all, was left utterly flabbergasted – how could his own flesh and blood ever _think_ of helping a dragon, and not care about his own people? He clearly placed the beast's safety and well-being over that of his father or any of the others at the moment, a figurative cold slap to their entire histories, both cultural and personal. How strong was this bewitching demon's hold over his son?

"Hiccup, what are you-?" Stoick started.

"SHUT IT, YOU FAT BASTARD!" Hiccup screamed. Stoick's eyes widened with shock once more seeing Hiccup's eyes as he turned around to face him once his dragon was set upright. His once bright green eyes of curiosity and humor were now filled with pure hatred, burning hotter than any dragon fire and raging fiercer than any storm on the seas. "How dare you barge in here in the middle of the night and try to kill my best friend!"

Paralyzed and stupefied, Stoick couldn't even mutter a response, so Astrid, who had managed to pick herself up, answered in his stead. "Best friend!? Hiccup, that's a dragon – a monster, a killer!"

"This 'killer' happens to be my best friend!" Hiccup yelled wrapping his arms around Toothless' head and bringing it close to him.

"All right, that's _enough_!" Alta yelled, having also recovered and rushing over to Hiccup's side, grabbing onto his arm and receiving a deathly glare from Astrid. Alvis, to the surprise of his parents, rushed over as well, quickly hiding behind his father's form while also checking up on the shaken dragon, rubbing calming circles around its head while the dragon crooned in reassurance. "No more yelling, no more fighting, everyone just… cool it!"

The house had gone completely silent with the adherence of her command, no one daring to speak a word. Even Snotlout, in the midst of bawling over the ruination of his 'flawless' face and Tuffnut, who was still whacking him to ruin it even more, had ceased their hijinks. There was something about the woman at that moment that seemed even more intimidating than even Astrid herself, an opinion shared among them all. The Berkians only stared with the smallest traces of intimidation on their faces next to the anger felt by Hiccup's family in minutes that felt like hours.

"Well…" Gobber started rubbing his neck with his good hand. "This is awkward…"

"'Awkward' doesn't even BEGIN to describe… this!" Hiccup furiously spat while gesturing to the entire scene before him, startling the group with the sheer gallons of venom in his voice. "Why now? Why did this have to happen?"

"Hiccup?" Stoick whispered getting back to his feet and moving with no sense of caution whatsoever. In whatever universe his mind was apparently trapped in, he figured Hiccup would be happy to see all his 'friends' and 'family' after so long.

"Just when I finally manage to get away, to forget about the past and start over, to have a best friend and be able to start a family… just when everything is going perfectly… YOU have to barge into my life again!" He screamed. "Why now, after six long years!? Did you find yourselves missing your punching bag that much? Had some frustrations that only pounding down the fishbone could resolve?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I had this serious problem with some goat that kept giving me the evil eye, and…" Tuffnut chimed in with his nonsensical behavior but was stopped cold by an icy glare that could put Fimbulvinter to shame from Hiccup.

"Alright, let's try this again." Alta asked, looking from her husband to the large man that currently was only steps away from them. "Who are you?"

"I am Stoick the Vast," Stoick answered calmly and with dignity, or whatever shred of it he could salvage in the wake of what he had just witnessed. "I'm Hiccup's father." He grabbed onto Hiccup's arm with this statement, and held it tightly so Hiccup could not escape, even as he desperately tried to pull away. The message that came in that vice-like grip was clear: Stoick was not losing his son again.

"Not anymore!" Hiccup yelled, managing at last to pull himself free of his ex-father's grip and move back to Alta's side.

"Hiccup, please." Astrid began to walk up to them. "We're not here to fight – we're here to bring you home."

Hiccup could only lurch back in terror at the thought of being brought back to the place and the people that left so many bad memories inside, a reaction only matched by his wife. Now it was Alta's eyes that had begun to cloud over with hate and anger, at that point seeing a pack of filthy scavengers that had come to take what they thought was theirs. She grabbed Hiccup by the arm and held him close with nearly as much strength as Stoick had, intent on not surrendering him to their grubby hands. "Back off, sister, you're crazy if you think for one second I'm letting my husband go back with you! You had your chance!"

Astrid's jaw dropped for a moment before contorting into a look of outrage at the woman's rudeness. Everything from her words to her actions insinuated how foolish she was, to take away what was rightfully _hers_! "Why you dirty little wart! Who do you think you are? Hiccup's coming back with us, where he belongs!" With that, she grabbed onto Hiccup's other free hand and tugged him swiftly over to her side.

"I'll tell you where he 'belongs,' right here! With people that actually care to respect him!" Alta shrieked, tugging him back. "Oh, trust me, he had plenty of stories to tell about that miserable little rock of yours!"

Astrid pulled him over to her side again in continuing this little game of Tug-a-war between her and the other woman. "That 'miserable little rock' is his home, and we're taking him back whether you like it or not!"

"Listen you-"

"Knock it off!" Hiccup yelled in protest, wrenching his arms away from the two warring women and returning to Alta's side again. "I am not a toy, and I'm certainly not some piece of property you can just show up and claim either!" His eyes focused then on Astrid, and with all the fury backing them, Astrid once again had to flinch back from the evident difference there was from the longing ones he always stared at her with when they were children. She wanted to turn away, but they had her locked into a position where she could do little more than stare back and face the storm of hatred directed towards her. "Berk was a lot of things, Astrid, but a home was not one of them. You shouldn't have come here – you should have just stayed back there and left well enough alone."

"Oh, we should have come here a long time ago," Stoick said, stepping forward. "Hiccup, you need to come back. Regardless of whatever feelings you may have, you are still the heir of Berk and our tribe is in dire need of a new chief."

"Uh, hello? You have a new chief!" Hiccup seethed. "You have Snotlout - you know, the guy who _everyone_ said the better choice was between the two of us 'cause he got the dragon's share of the muscle in the family?" The Viking in question, even with his broken appearance, just smugly smirked with pride remembering all the words of praise sent his way. Everyone always gave him pats on the back, compliments whenever he walked by, praising him up and down for the littlest things because he was the perfect Viking. He had been a small celebrity long before the subject of chief had ever come into his knowledge. And once he found out and was compared to his pathetic little cousin, the praising only got more fulfilling.

"Hiccup, he did become chief," Astrid said "And it's a disaster! He's ruined everything – he just expects us to wait on him hand and foot while the dragons tear Berk apart. There's no food, no supplies, we have nothing!"

"So that's it, then? You just want Hiccup back so he can clean up Snotlout's messes." Alta questioned Stoick bitterly. "Very low, 'Vast, and here I was thinking it might have something to do with remorse for the way you treated him – whoopsie me for thinking that ridiculous notion!"

"No!" Stoick yelled. "It's more than that, so keep outta this, girl – it's a family matter and it doesn't concern you!"

"I'd say it does concern me since I'm actually married to him." Alta shot back, and that statement only made Astrid scream internally. This woman was nothing more than a pathetic thief, spouting out utter nonsense and flaunting her victory for the sake of enraging them now that she had claimed her 'prize.' Hiccup had been kept away from them, from her, all this time because of this worthless, insignificant speck of nothing – the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to tear her to pieces right then and there.

"Now you listen here, girl, Hiccup is my son and nothing you say or do will stop me from taking him with me! Now step aside or else-"Stoick boomed

"Are you trying to threaten my wife, _father_?!" Hiccup asked in a tone lined with vitriolic outrage that piled upon the already monumental amounts that had built up in the last hour. He defiantly steeped in front of Alta and held his arm out to shield her from the man he had long since designated as an enemy and glared harshly. Even Alvis had now designated the man as such, and although he recognized that he had nowhere near the courage his father did, he too tried to step in front of his mother to protect her. He was vaguely aware of this terrible man's connection to Hiccup, and was only becoming more confused as the situation unfolded, that, or he simply found his own reasons to dislike who appeared to be a second grandfather to him.

"No, Hiccup, I-"

"First you try to kill my dragon, now you go for my family!?" Hiccup yelled. "L-Let me ask you this – do you really think you're persuading me in any way to go back with you right now?"

"Hiccup, please, be reasonable! I'm only tryin' to-"

Hiccup scoffed at Stoick's insulting use of the word 'reasonable.' "You know what's funny – how 'reason' always seems to translate to whatever you want! Like having me basically drop everything here, everything I've done, just so I can fill in for someone who turns out wasn't as cut out for the job of chief as everyone thought! You know, I hardly see how it's my fault that you're never satisfied with anything!"

Once again, the house was silent, Stoick staring at his son with eyes as wide as saucers. Hiccup had never once insulted him, never once raised his voice at him – he always just made a witty remark that just gave him a headache at its perplexity before moving on. That was just his typical response to everything, even the days he might have had it a little harder due to busy schedules over at the forge. That same deadpan expression and use of sarcasm; Stoick just thought it was how he naturally was and accepted it as part of the norm, never once thinking anything was wrong. He had never been aware of what the other children, namely those like Snotlout and the twins, had been doing to him – he had dismissed it as boys being boys instead of recognizing it for the cruelty it truly was. This was the first time he had ever raised his voice to anyone, and it couldn't help but make the Berkians wonder just how many times throughout the years they had taken advantage of his forgiving nature.

Hiccup bowed his head down to clear his mind of the overabundant anger in his mind clouding it like a bog on the open sea, bringing it down to at least a controllable level. "I'm done thinking that way… I'm done blaming myself for everything wrong in your life, including how you can't get over mom…"

Valka… The resemblance to his deceased wife was made clearer than ever to Stoick, and it all but killed him to see her standing there. Now that he had grown, he had definitely discovered his mother's spirit in him, she was just as, if not more defiant. Suddenly, his out-of-character behavior made more sense to the forlorn chief. If memory served, she could raise up all hel when she was peeved or when she was defending her outlandish beliefs, and was one of the very few people who could stand up to him when his temper was flared. The combination of those two, everyone figured, was most certain to create the ultimate Viking; he still could picture clearly how let down they had all been when the most they could produce together was a tiny little runt appropriately named for what he was.

"Your mother… she was quite a woman…" Stoick started. "I loved her… and when she was taken, I fell apart. I was a shell of my former self…"

"That 'shell' turned out to be pretty handy with a battle-axe, didn't he?" Hiccup spat at him. "Didn't get all that tired of using it either."

He tried to look up at Hiccup, the child who had exposed him as the ignorant avenger he had been, who devoted so much time to his chiefing and nest-hunts he hardly paid any attention to him. But he suddenly found himself looking at the dragon again – the creature that killed her, robbed her from him and from Midgard. "What I can't understand though… is why you'd accept the very beast that took her. She's gone forever because of those monsters – doesn't that matter to you?"

"Excuse me for not upholding the memory of someone I know nothing about!" Hiccup retaliated. "I've had enough of your expectations regarding my dragon slaying record – I don't need another telling me to honor some stranger I don't even have memories of!"

"Now look 'ere, lad," Gobber steeped in with his tone of mediator to resolve issues between the two as he had done in years past. He had just barely noticed that he had done so just in time after seeing the deepening shade of red on Stoick's face – a warning that he was about ready to scream his head off. "Ah'll admit yur father's not tha best at his job. Sure, 'e can be rude, loud, temper'mental, neglectful, bossy, impatient, maybe a lit'l condescendin'-"

"Gobber!" Stoick shouted.

Gobber shook his head. "The point is, he's been tryin his best ta be a good father an' protect you. Don't ya think yu can cut 'im a lit'l slack?"

"Oh yeah, I feel protected, all right!" Hiccup shouted. "Whether I was locked in our house for hours on end, or being completely invisible in the time I dared to set foot outside 'cause no one could see me in your shadow!" Hiccup yelled, bowing his head down. "Not even you… but that's probably because you never bothered to turn around, because you didn't want to look at me… and be reminded of her."

He had to chuckle ironically when Stoick and Gobber gasped at his statement. "You think I didn't know? I managed to find out years ago when a few of your villagers carelessly mentioned it while I was strolling by. How much I looked like her, and how you couldn't bear to face the two biggest failures in your life…" Hiccup clenched his eyes shut and bowed his head down while clenching his fists tightly. "The thing is, though, that just came to be one more thing I blamed myself for."

In his mind he recalled the days when he was a small child looking up at the sight of his father walking out the door, leaving him in the dark confines of their home alone. The man never once spared him a passing glance as he made his way out to do his rounds, not even a pat on the head or a word of acknowledgement. It was almost as if Hiccup was a ghost or he simply didn't exist – perhaps if his father had turned back to face him he would have only seen an empty spot on the dusty floor. Hiccup wanted to say something, to speak out and confirm that his father wasn't the only one who lived there. Even if it was little more than a simple thing like 'have a good day' or 'I love you'; if he had stayed though, Hiccup found in the years onward that a lump in his throat would bar the words from coming out. "Even before that, I was convinced it was my fault that others around me were so unhappy. I looked in the mirror and asked myself so many times if there was even one single part of me that people could think had some kind of worthwhile purpose. I got it into my head that I needed to prove myself to you, and bent over backwards like a slave for the day I could wear your pride like some extravagant banner…"

The two older Vikings, along with Astrid and Fishlegs, bowed their heads down to avoid looking at him, and Hiccup, who saw them turn away from their own misdeeds, only felt anger well up again inside. He spoke further in the hopes that not even their renowned strength could lift up the guilt that he would press down on them. "I wanted to show you, all of you, that I wasn't just some useless weakling nor a remnant of someone else – I wanted people to look at me, recognize me! Or at least the fact that I was trying! I had to destroy the real me and convince myself to be a killer, just so I could be accepted, forget trying to gain any kind of glory! And all I got was spit in my face every time! What a joke!" He rose his head up and glared them down directly. "She was gone and you were bummed 'cause you got stuck with her pathetic little brat; to you I might as well have been carried off by that dragon along with her!"

Stoick was crushed, devastated, to hear all that his son had put himself through, all that they had burdened him with. All this time, Hiccup had been tearing himself apart for his sake with this stress and he had no one to help him with it. They were the ones who placed all that on him, considering him as no more valuable than a servant or prisoner. He had not been wrong when he said it may very well had been for nothing; he was, after all, speaking to the man who had shrugged off him coming him with clearly broken limbs, black eyes, and bleeding cuts by passing it off as mere clumsiness. But Hiccup needed to hear that he never once thought it would have been better if he suffered the same fate as his mother. The pain Stoick would have felt at losing them both would have driven him over the edge.

"Hiccup… I'm sorry." He whispered.

Hiccup turned away in disgust. "I broke my neck for 14 years trying to please you, but no matter what I did nothing was ever good enough. Nothing I do is ever good enough for you, not even the fact that I managed to put an end to centuries of war!"

The entire group of Berkians startled back at this revelation, save for Astrid, who had already seen for herself and put the pieces together. For the others, it was an immense revelation, too incredulous to even believe. Stoick had to ask. "Hiccup, what do you mean?"

"Tell me, Stoick, just how many raids have you had in the past few years?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, there was that one time two years back?" Tuffnut pointed out.

"Moron! That was a yak stampede!" Snotlout pointed out. "And it only happened because YOU and your sis were howling like a wolf pack to spook them!"

"Okay, well, how 'bout the one a month ago?" He asked.

"Again, that was you and Ruffnut…" Fishlegs pointed out after doing his best to just stay out of the fight and hid near the end of the hall. He had just been observing Ruffnut, who let the entire conversation pass her by just staring dreamily at Hiccup. "You swiped barrels of fish and blamed it on invisible dragons. The whole village was freaking out even after you got caught hiding the food in your house."

"Oh, yeah, I heard some people even chopped down their own houses. Gotta say, it was good, you know, to make a positive contribution to the new Berk." Tuffnut said crossing his arms proudly.

"You do realize we wer' tryin' ta keep tha houses up, righ'?" Gobber deadpanned.

"Wait, is that what we've been doing all this time?" Tuffnut asked. "Wow, pretty dumb really, I mean, I always thought it looked better all war-torn 'n stuff."

"That being said…" Astrid growled at him before turning back to Hiccup. "We haven't had any raids since a few months after you left."

"Huh, maybe Useless was our problem after all." Snotlout said nonchalantly having now settled into a relaxed position on the floor. "Told you guys we should've shipped him off on a boat."

"Snotlout!" Astrid shouted scoldingly.

"Well, there's a good reason for that – I was the one who found the nest and took down the Queen dragon that lived there, the one that forced all the others to steal food for her so they wouldn't be eaten themselves. No more Queen, no more war!" Hiccup shouted.

A moment of silence passed with the Berkians staring at him with widened eyes, before they clenched again as they roared in laughter, even harder than they did when Astrid revealed he was the Dragon Conqueror. They clenched their sides in, while some like Snotlout and the twins rolled on the floor and kicked their legs out. Only Astrid kept silent, though behind that expressionless gaze she gave her head was still reeling over the fact that Hiccup had done what all had considered the impossible. It might have been easier to consider or believe when Hiccup was slapped with a fancy title and a different persona, namely that of the ominous Dragon Conqueror. But sadly, his actions to them were even harder to believe than his identity, a lifetime of mistakes and humiliation leaving those that spun all the tall tales about him unable to draw the connection. Hiccup himself, sad to say, wasn't all that surprised when it seems they'd underestimated his capabilities yet again.

"Oh man, that's rich, that is just rich… this place is just a barrel of laughs…" Snotlout muttered in between laughs while still holding his gut in. "A loser like you… taking down some mega Queen dragon… Look out! Make way for the big bad Dragon Conqueror!"

"Dragon Conqueror?" Alta asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Uh, that's Dragon Whisperer to you!"

"No, it's… it's…" Fishlegs squeaked out with one hand held out and the other braced on his knee, to Hiccup's irritation actually giggling himself at his claim, as if he was so much wiser. "It's what people on other islands have been calling him for some time."

"Oh, boy, are those guys gonna feel stupid when they find out they've been quaking in their boots over Hiccup." Snotlout said, and he and the twins started bursting into laughter again. "Like anyone's gonna believe you took down any dragon."

Hiccup only calmly walked over without saying a word to Snotlout's place on the floor. The pompous fool was actually starting to leak in the eyes from all the laughing he'd done, and was still sniggering. Hiccup looked down on him without any expression in his eyes, in fact he barely even blinked while watching his cousin continue to mock him silently. Suddenly, he raised his leg and let it hover by his side.

"Then explain… THIS!" On that last word, he stomped his prosthetic limb down on top of Snotlout's chest, hard. The man in question yelped in pain with the puncturing of the prosthetic's cleats into his skin, which quickly died down into sorrowful little whimpers. The others gasped heavily at seeing the limb of metal and wood clearly for the first time. How Hiccup's real limb of flesh and bone was cut off just below the knee, ending as a closed up stump that truly looked as if the limb had just been sucked in on itself. What remained of the lost limb was a wooden peg with a crank for a metal piece at the bottom, more sophisticated and advanced when compared to most before it, which at best could only be considered sticks tied to the limbs.

"Hiccup… what tha heck happened to yur leg, lad!?" Gobber yelled. As impressed as he was by the artistic craftsmanship in the leg, he was nonetheless horrified that someone so young had to endure the horrors of being a limb short.

"Me likey…" Ruffnut slurred out while slouching down.

"I lost it in the fight with the Red Death, the name we've given to the Queen…" Hiccup said without facing the old smith. Toothless only bowed his head down and looked at the floor in shame at the memory of how he had torn off a piece of his best friend, even if there was no other way. Even without looking back, Hiccup could sense the monumental regret in his friend and continued. "A small sacrifice… compared to what came as a result of it."

"Ridiculous!" Stoick shouted marching up. "You can't expect us to believe such wild stories! It was that beast, wasn't it?" He pointed an accusing finger to Toothless, who flinched back at his not-all-inaccurate accusation. "Don't even try to defend it!"

"It's none of your concern…" Hiccup growled.

"Like hell it isn't!" Stoick shouted. "This demon took your leg and you're treating it like a common housepet? Have you learned nothing? What could possibly make you see any kind of goodness in such a disgusting creature!?"

"He was the only friend I had!" Hiccup argued, turning to face him. "I had no one back on Berk; everyone turned their back on me because I wasn't what they wanted me to be! Who else could I turn to but to my supposed enemy!?"

Stoick growled further – honestly, the sound was comparable to that of the creatures he despised so much in Hiccup's view. The man seemed to exude outrage by the second in the face of what had to clearly be his son's betrayal. And yet he was desperately trying to restrain himself at that moment, keep himself from making a move that everyone would regret. "I've had enough of this nonsense, Hiccup. I understand that much wrong has been dealt to you, but I'm telling you that you have a chance to end all that! You don't have to put it off any longer, you can kill that dragon now, and everyone will know yur a true warrior, you'll be the Pride of Berk, the son I always wanted you ta be! Just stop with this lunacy and kill it already!"

Alvis started to cry harder and Alta covered her mouth as she gasped at Stoick in shock, bending down to hold her child and protect him from Stoick. Toothless roared and bared all his fangs at the man, but didn't advance for fear of risking the safety of his rider or his family in the still-very-possible bloodbath.

"What?!"

Alta scoffed. "Here on Draak, we no longer kill dragons, we train them. Unlike you, we see no point in trying to kill living creatures in the name of what you call 'honor!'"

Stoick glared at her furiously for her constant butting in, unable to understand that this had nothing to do with her. The woman called herself Hiccup's wife, but she was by no means family to the elder chief. Stoick was adamant on not accepting anyone here as part of his family: people from his clan knew better than to fraternize with dragons. All the beasts could do was kill mindlessly – it was a fact as simple as how the sky was blue or fish could swim. Valka believed in such ideals herself and they had ended up costing her life; how anyone could see anything other than the express desire to kill in dragons was beyond him. He was about to reprimand her for voicing her unwanted comments in again before Hiccup cut him to the quick.

"There was a time when that was all I wanted – to be the perfect son, just for you." He muttered silently. "And there was a time when I had the perfect chance to make that possible, when I managed to down the most dangerous dragon of them all…" He pointed directly at Toothless, who crooned worriedly at him.

Stoick looked back and forth between Hiccup and the dragon in perplexion. Looking over at the others, he saw that they were just as confused, save for Astrid, who was looking down so he could not see her face. It was then he recalled the entirety of their conversation before they had snuck into the village, where she had told them all she had seen when she had infiltrated alone just in time to see their 'Parade.' Along with the tales he had heard of the Dragon Conqueror, and the very breed he flew throughout the skies, and realization finally dawned on him. It had on all of them, looking back at the black dragon with utter terror; it was Gobber who ended up voicing their thoughts at that moment.

"Y-you mean… tha's a-a…" He pointed with a shaky hook. "Night Fury!?"

Suddenly a bloodcurdling scream came out from Fishlegs at the face of the now peeved dragon, pushing himself back towards the wall and bracing himself against it. As far as he pushed himself back, he still continued to scream, in long, drawn out shrieks or in short spurts to signify his terror. Being the walking dragon encyclopedia he was and being an avid reader of the old Book of Dragons, he knew better than anyone how dangerous the Night Fury was, and how that fear mostly came from people's lack of knowledge of it. The others had to hold their ears at the sudden burst of sound that came from the husky young Viking's mouth and grit their teeth in annoyance. Toothless was affected just as much, if not more, pinning his own ears down due to his natural sensitivity to noise.

"FISHLEGS, WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF!" Astrid screamed back in order to silence the man, throwing in a sharp glare for good measure. Her actions had taken effect as he just stood there with trembling knees clutching himself.

Now that Fishlegs' little episode had ended, Stoick looked back to Hiccup while gesturing towards the devil. "You actually shot down a Night Fury? This one, right here?" Stoick's mind immediately flashed back to that night six years ago after the raid, when Hiccup had made the same exact claim. Somehow, he had managed to bring down the ultimate force of destruction known to Midgard, at a point of day when no one could see it, with nothing but a machine that had already been reduced to scraps and splinters. At that time, no one believed him, given his reputation and lack of any actual proof, and he was no different, thinking it was just some sorry excuse to make up for his latest destructive spree. Like always, he had barely bothered to hear him out, and now it just left him with thoughts of remorse as to how things could have been had he actually listened.

"Shot him down, found him tied up in the woods, rendered completely defenseless, had the best chance to kill him…" Hiccup mused.

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU!?" Stoick shouted. "I could have been so proud of you! All you had to do was kill that thing and we could have avoided all of this! You could have been one of us!"

"Because unlike you, I was willing to look a little deeper." Hiccup growled marching up towards his father, more aggravated and steeled than he had been all evening. Seeing that mighty, almost cold persona on Hiccup, Stoick actually felt somewhat intimidated. He backed away as Hiccup approached, one step back for every step forward his son took. "I befriended him, started to train him, give back what I took from him. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I had found the answer that somehow eluded even the wisest of Viking chiefs for 300 years, and still had to that very day. It was only once I came here that I realized just what it was I needed to do with these talents I never would have known I'd possessed had I stayed and let myself become another one of your dragon-killers." By now, he had backed Stoick into the wall completely, greatly surprising the company the Berk chief had come with, but had hardly noticed as he continued to stare him down. "While you were off spilling dragon guts and chopping off their heads, I was finding an actual solution. I did what no other _Viking_," he spat, "had the heart or the sense to do. You have no right to come to me just as I've begun to create a new future for both man and dragon and tell me that I'm wrong…"

Stoick just continued to stare back, caught in Hiccup's eyes having now lost what he had assumed to be anger, and instead now burned with pure resolve. The same resolve that people had noticed in him, the resolve that he emulated in his father. It was the flame of will that burned in the heart of a chief and a chief alone, and the message it spoke was clear. Hiccup had already lost a limb, but he would gladly lay down his life and let all his limbs be torn off if it meant he could protect that dragon. Sadly, this was still to some degree lost to him, because that protectiveness was still aimed towards a dragon of all things. Had Hiccup lost all respect for humanity, or had he just lost his own humanity to want such a thing?

He just growled again and swiftly grabbed a fistful of Hiccup's hair and pulled him close, unwilling to let any dragon-lover talk down to him, even if it was his son. "You… you can't speak to me like that… you-"

"STOP IT!"

The high-pitched cry startled everyone in the room and drained them of whatever emotions they felt in the past few seconds. Stoick had released Hiccup from his grip, who promptly massaged his hair where it had been grabbed, with Alta rushing to his side in an instant, Astrid herself being stopped by this before she could do the same. Everyone looked down simultaneously to see that the cry had come from none other than Alvis, the little boy who mere moments ago was trembling in fear. He still had tears spilling down his face, but where there was once traces of sadness, there was now a look of defiant anger pointed directly at Stoick. The boy stood in front of his father as if to shield him from his rage, baring his teeth just as Toothless would.

"You just stop it!" He shouted. "So what if dad doesn't kill dragons – he's still done a lot of really great things! All the dragons love him, and everybody says what a great leader he is and they're always talking about the super amazing stuff he's done! My dad's the coolest, bravest, most amazing person in the whole wide world!" The young boy actually started crying more and his cheeks tinted red from the welling mixture of anger and hurt inside him. "He's… he's my hero… and I'm not gonna just let you big jerks keep making fun of him 'n saying all this bad stuff about him! You're his dad, this should be enough for you! 'Cause it's more than enough for me!"

"Alvis…" Hiccup whispered staring at his son, touched that someone would say such things about him after years of people saying just what a nuisance he was. His own son was standing up against those very people, people who were five times his size, just for him. It left him both flattered and a little guilty. Stoick meanwhile just stared with a bit of condescendence at the child, yet another person who didn't know what he was talking about and really shouldn't have bothered speaking. Children should know their place, yet it seems he was picking up all too much on this woman's and Hiccup's defiant natures; still, he did feel somewhat impressed that he spoke up against him, something even most adults were afraid to do.

Alta suddenly came over and picked up Alvis by the waist before handing him over to Hiccup, gently shoving her husband away. "Okay, listen, we're all really tired, some of us a bit cranky to boot…" she shot a glare at Stoick and Astrid. "So, Hiccup, why don't you put Alvis to bed and I'll handle these bozos."

Astrid scoffed and brushed her bang back with a whip of her head while Stoick stepped forward, putting himself in Hiccup's way as he turned back to his child's room. "Hold it! We are not done here!"

"Okay, can we please talk about this in the morning?" Snotlout asked with a heavy groan, rubbing his head to relieve it of the still-present pain there, a flashing throb causing him to clutch his forehead tightly.

"We will not talk about this in the morning because you will not be here in the morning!" Hiccup stated, moving past Stoick and giving him a hard shove brushing past his shoulder.

"You got that right!" Stoick boomed grabbing forcefully onto Hiccup's shoulder. "Because we'll have already taken you home by then! I'm not leaving without you, Hiccup!" Stoick boomed.

"Too bad. I am chief of Draak now, and I will remain here whether you like it or not." Hiccup said knocking away his hand. He turned his attention to Alta and let his features soften but remain stern. "Holler if you need me." With that, Hiccup went to Alvis's room, silently comforting the frightened boy with a gentle hand rubbing his back, not sparing a single glance or word to the other Berkians as he did so. Much to the display of Ruffnut, who had finally shaken out of her dreamy stupor and reached out mournfully for Hiccup, asking him to come back and let her see his gorgeous body some more. Toothless got back up and trailed after them, giving Stoick a nasty look and a fierce growl in the process.

Fishlegs tottered over with his hands together in a timid position and scanned the room looking at all those who were left behind. "So what now?" He asked silently, looking at Alta in the process.

"Now…" Alta stated, "you can all get the HECK out of my house!" And with surprising strength for a pregnant woman of her stature, started to push Stoick down the stairs, the others following suit, with Astrid right behind Alta and giving the hardest, most terrifying glare at her. So hard it was possible her face might permanently freeze in that manner. The arrogant shield-maiden was hardly Alta's primary concern at the moment, although she did promise herself to let her have a few choice words. Right now, her only concern was the man right in front of her, and she had quite a few things to discuss…

* * *

><p><strong>So that's it for this chapter – hope you all got your dragon's share of drama with this one. The next few chapters will follow the same tone, but I'm sorry to say I'll have to put them off for some time. This is for two reasons:<strong>

**1.) The most important – I have to dedicate time to working on my projects for school. My portfolio to be exact, since it's what determines whether I graduate or not. That's going to be pretty time consuming, and this is basically a hobby for me anyway.**

**2.) I need to reorganize my ideas for the stories – both this and Dragon's Hero. I want to give myself some time to plan out new ideas and see where they will go. If you have read one but not the other yet, then go ahead and get one with it. Many others will tell you they do not disappoint.**

**3.) I want to get some ideas going for a Big Hero 6 fanfiction, since I'm now in love with that movie. I want to do my own little AU where Hiro's brother Tadashi turns out to be alive, but I want to do it in a smart way that doesn't mess up the first film's message, cause that's the main issue there. Just to show that if I can do it, so can the geniuses at Disney. If your a fan of the movie too and want him back yourself there a petition for that on Tumblr, Instagram, and other places ****- "Bring back Tadashi Hamada" **

**Anyway, I'll be putting my stuff here on Fanfiction on hiatus for a while, but you can still enjoy what's here so far. Thank you all for your support, especially with my writer's block, and your slightly off-putting comments at times. As always, review, favorite, follow!**


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